Gohan - War of Gods
by Mirilion
Summary: The Tournament of Power changed Gohan forever. After watching entire universes get erased, he slowly came to a realization: The others may accept all the death and destruction as part of the natural order, but Gohan cannot. The gods have been too careless and brutal with their power, and they must be stopped. [A/N: Short chapters - each chapter is basically a single scene].
1. Realization

(Gohan and Videl's house)

It was a quiet afternoon. Inside the house, Gohan was sitting in his study, reviewing a paper written by one of his collegues. He should have been done by now, but his mind kept wandering.

Whenever he was about to immerse himself in the paper and consider the theories presented in it, he was sucked back into his memories of the Tournament of Power. And it wasn't memories of his own battles, his team-up with Piccolo or even his father's extremely taxing trials – no, it was the twin gods of the multiverse casually erasing realities, as if it was perfectly natural.

He could sense the defeated fighters' ki vanishing as if they never existed, their last expression full of terror and regret, or a sort of defeated acceptance – there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. And Gohan knew the twin Zenos would have done the same to his universe, to his family, and the Grand Priest would have announced their deaths with the same cold smile.

Inside him he could feel an old anger awakening. Rage at the death of innocents, caused by villains who didn't even consider their victims' lives meaningful. Gohan's ki rose without him noticing it, and waves of power started radiating from him into the house. The power streamed throughout the rooms and corridors of their large residence, and Pan suddenly started crying downstairs.

Gohan's rage subsided, and he left his study to check on his wife and daughter. Videl was comforting Pan, who relaxed when she saw Gohan approaching. "There, there, baby", Videl whispered as she held Pan close. "Gohan, what happened? I could feel you powering up, is everything alright?"

Gohan smiled at her, but didn't answer. Videl raised an eyebrow. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right? We're here for you, whatever it is".  
"I know, thank you. It's just... I can't forget what happened at the tournament, it's... giving me a hard time," Gohan said.

Videl considered this. "Perhaps you need to talk to someone? Normally I would have suggested a therapist, but knowing you and your family, maybe you should talk to Piccolo, or your dad?"

Gohan couldn't help but smile, thinking about how a normal human therapist would react to his story. "You know, maybe I just need a little break. Will you be alright if I leave for a while? I'll clear my head and come right back."

"Of course, honey". Videl gave Gohan a kiss. "Go relax, we'll be fine". She grimaced as Pan gripped a lock of her hair and pulled. "Luckily I can still keep up with her". Gohan kissed both of them on their foreheads, and flew away.

(Space, above the Earth)

Gohan floated high up in the atmosphere, looking down at the blue-white-green marble that was Earth. Surrounded by his ki, he easily resisted the extreme cold and the vacuum of space, while the sensation forced him to focus and snap out of his melancholy, at least for a little while.

Ever since his recent training with Piccolo he had gained most of his muscle mass back, and now his clothes were stretched around the arms and at the shoulders, almost to the point of bursting. A strange thing to notice only now, he thought, but it seemed to him to be a good analogy for his own life. He had changed. The things he had seen in the tournament changed him forever, and there was no going back. He wasn't a fighter like his father or Vegeta, he didn't have their passion for combat, but he did want to protect people. And feeling all those lives getting wiped away shook him to his core.

His father, Vegeta and the rest seemed to have accepted it as part of the natural order, but he just couldn't. Slowly, still floating about the Earth, he came to the realization that he wanted to do something about it. Things could not go on this way.

Gohan remembered feeling this way before, when he was a child. It was the first time he had resisted his mother, back in that hospital room. He felt this way before going into the Room of Spirit and Time with his father, like it was his duty to fight, to protect all these innocent people from an uncaring, murderous villain who was much more powerful than they were. Even now, after all these years, that basic need to protect the innocent never changed, and he knew he had to act. A singled thought pierced through his overloaded consciousness: The gods had to be stopped.

Gohan froze as he realized what he was thinking. What he was considering was nothing less than an attack against the gods - those who had allowed villains like Freeza to snuff out so many civilizations, those who destroyed planets on a whim, the angels who laughed and ate pudding while billions of innocent lives were slaughtered, the cold smile of the high priest as realities were erased, and finally, the uncaring, murderous innocence of the childlike god of the multiverse. All of them had to pay for their crimes.

Having accepted this, at least for now, Gohan moved on. How? How could he do it? He was so weak compared to them all... Their feats flashed through his memories, but even as Gohan started to despair, his sharp mind presented him with a plan.

"Of course!" Gohan thought to himself. "Super Saiyan God! I'll tell the others that I want to undergo the ritual, and then I'll start training like father and Vegeta." And after that... well, who knows what power he'll be able to reach, he did it once on his own, Gohan was sure he could do it again. It's like Vegeta kept saying, sometimes while looking at Gohan with disapproval, Saiyans had no limits.

[A/N: Welcome to the story! Hope you enjoy it. I'm a Gohan fan through and through, and I didn't like the way he was treated in Super. This storyline has been cooking up for a while and I just had to write it down. Feel free to give me your honest reviews, I'm trying to become a better writer.

Anyway, just had a guest review asking if this is Gohan Blanco vs. El Grande Padre played straight. There are some similarities to the meme canon, I guess, but I wasn't really thinking about it when I came up with the story. It's my own personal interpretation of what happened in the tournament, and how it might have affected Gohan if Toriyama decided to let him make an actual comeback.  
Gohan Blanco, Gohan Calvo, Shaggy, God of Destruction Scooby, El Grande Padre, the Jiren family and the rest won't be featured in this story. Caulifla isn't weaker than literal dirt, and you don't grow stronger by mastering additional languages. Sorry, Dragon Ball X fans.


	2. Videl's Tears

(Gohan and Videl's House, Later that day)

Videl was relaxing in the living room when Gohan returned, Pan having finally exhausted herself and fallen asleep. Gohan sat next to her on the sofa, looking serious and avoiding her eyes. Videl turned towards him, stared at his clothes, and asked "What is it, honey? What happened? Why are your clothes torn up?"

"What? My clothes? I..." Gohan looked at himself. His black shoes were scorched, his pants torn and his gray jumper frayed and marked with soot. "I never even noticed, I was too excited and didn't shield my clothes properly. Sorry about that. But Videl, I... I have something to tell you. I've thought about it and..." He hesitated, noticing Videl's worried expression.

"You can tell me anything, Gohan. Go ahead."  
"Okay," said Gohan, "There's no easy way to say it, so I'll just tell you right away."  
He steeled himself, turned towards Videl and said "I'm going to fight against the gods."

Videl didn't respond. She looked at him inquisitively, trying to figure out what was happening. "What do you mean, fight against the gods?"  
Gohan took a long breath. "Remember what I told you about the tournament? The way all those gods just casually murdered people? I can't let it go. I won't have Pan growing up in this world, and I couldn't live with myself if I just let them do it. It has to stop."

Videl began to feel a growing unease. "Gohan, what do you plan to do? Are you going to fight them all? What happens if you win, will you just kill them? What will happen to me and Pan if you die?!" She grew more and more agitated as she went on, her imagination supplying her with increasingly terrible scenarios that grew out of Gohan's words. "I remember how Beerus attacked us during Bulma's party, how can you even think about fighting a monster like that?"

Gohan grabbed her shoulders and she went quiet, looking up into his eyes, although he could see his words disturbed her deeply. They stared into each other's eyes for a long while, and eventually Videl spoke.  
"Gohan, we have a good life, you have your career, we have little Pan. Are you really going to walk away from all that to fight the gods? Do I have to tell you how insane that sounds?"

He lowered his eyes and didn't respond. At first she thought he'll agree with her, apologize in his own polite way and everything will go back to normal. But as he raised his head and began to speak, she knew it wasn't going to happen.

"Videl, remember when we were in high-school?"  
"Yes, of course..." she answered softly.  
"You and I went out constantly to help people, right? Even after graduation, you still tagged along with me and we patrolled the city in our costumes. You remember that?"  
"Yes, but things are different now, Gohan, we have a family."  
Gohan hugged her close but continued speaking, his head resting on top of her own. "We still go out now and again, don't we? With the cool poses and everything, because we still want to help people."  
Videl sighed, hugging him right back, and let him continue. She could feel her tears coming.

"Imagine how many people are out there who need our help, and there's no one to help them. They pray to their gods, but their gods are the ones who are killing them. Not just here, but all over the universe and in all other universes." Gohan paused for breath and noticed Videl was crying silently. He wiped her tears gently with his thumb, but they kept coming. Gohan hugged her again and continued, "It's insane, Videl, they have to be stopped. We'll never be free as long as these lunatics are in control."  
Videl whispered, now crying against his chest, "But things are better now, no? You said all the universes have been restored, right?"  
"Yes, but all the planets that Beerus destroyed, they're still gone, and gods of destruction keep murdering people. The angel, Whis, he even gave Freeza his life back. He just set Freeza loose without caring about the consequences, and Beerus is a thousand times more brutal than Freeza himself. I have to stop them."

They stopped hugging and sat apart from each other. A few moments later Gohan spoke again. "Look, I know this how crazy this sounds, but I feel that I have to do it. I came to you first, because you're my wife and I love you, so if you say that I can't go, I won't go. I'll just live with it."

Videl wiped her tears and tried to calm herself, looking into Gohan's eyes. She remembered the way they flew towards Babbidi's ship together all those years ago, with Kibito urging them to fly faster. She realized she was holding him back, and let him go on without her. But he came back, and they have been together ever since.

He was always so gentle and passive these days, constantly smiling and relaxed. But she could always remember that dangerous quality inside him, the warrior persona. She saw it only for a moment, but she could never forget it. On the way to Babbidi's ship, while they were both hovering in midair, Gohan was smiling at her, then he turned his head to fly after Kibito. And while his head was turning, before he sped away, she could see it for just a fraction of a second. His eyes were hardened steel, his jaw set. The gentle and loving man she knew took a step back and let the warrior take control.  
And this is what she saw now when she looked into Gohan's eyes.

"Oh Gohan... I can't lie to myself about it, I don't want to hold you back. You're right about everything, I just don't want you to throw your life away, I don't want Pan to grow up without a father."  
Gohan smiled, and they were soon hugging again. "I'm not as crazy as my father. I know I'm much weaker than dad and Vegeta and the rest. I'll need to train and learn new techniques, it's going to take a while."  
Videl started crying again, and he began running his fingers through her hair.  
"I'll never let them hurt you, Pan and anyone else, ever again".


	3. The Prince

(Gohan and Videl's house, early morning)

After hearing someone knocking, Videl went downstairs and opened the front door. "Good morning Piccolo, come in", she said.

The massive Namekian had to bend down to fit through the human-sized door. "Good morning", he said. "Gohan asked me to look after you and your daughter for the next few weeks. He didn't want to tell me what was going on." After a slight pause, he added "That's... unusual."

As they entered the kitchen, Piccolo sat down on an extra-large chair the couple had prepared for him. In the past he used to stand, but he knew it made Gohan and Videl uncomfortable. "Gohan said he wanted to train with Vegeta, to be honest", Videl said, slightly embarrassed about having to keep a secret from their friend. But she told herself Gohan will share everything with his old mentor when the time is right.

"Hmm", the green giant raised an eyebrow but said nothing else. Piccolo could sense something was going on, but he respected Gohan enough to give him privacy.

"Oh, by the way, Trunks and Goten gave me another batch of that special spring water. They think it's cosmetics, but they're so cute and thoughtful I didn't want to tell them it's just water. Would you like to try some?" Videl asked.  
"Alright", Piccolo sighed, thinking about the little half-Saiyan children and their antics. "I guess we're lucky they don't blow everything up, considering how insanely powerful they are."  
"True", Videl agreed. She poured Piccolo a tall glass of the special water, handing it to him without adding any ice.

Piccolo sipped the water, and his eyes opened in surprise. "Mmm... this is very good."  
"Really?" asked Videl. She didn't actually expect Piccolo to like it. "Well, next time I see them I'll ask..."

They were interrupted by a flying baby plopping down belly-first on top of Piccolo's head. "Oyo!" baby Pan shouted happily, pulling on his antennae and making the Namekian jump.  
Videl couldn't help but laugh at the scene. No matter what the future may bring, here and now her daughter never failed to cheer her up.

(Capsule Corporation headquarters, early morning)

While flying towards Capsule Corp., Gohan could sense Trunk's ki flaring as if he was fighting someone. But Vegeta was nearby, clearly at rest, and there weren't any other fighters there. So who was Trunks' opponent?

When he reached Bulma's house, Gohan came across a strange scene. Dozens of people were gathered in the streets surrounding the Capsule Corporation headquarters, staring at the two fighters flying overhead. High up in the air, high enough to be clearly visible to the people in the nearby streets, Trunks was fighting a strange silver figure, both of them encased in a massive, greenish force field bubble.

Gohan sensed Trunks wasn't, in fact, fighting for his life, and landed next to Vegeta, Bulma, Pilaf, Mai and Shu inside the compound. Vegeta was standing next to the gazebo, his arms crossed, looking up at his son fighting the stranger. Nearby, Bulma and Pilaf were busy managing some kind of bulky machinery, while Shu and Mai were encouraging Trunks. Vegeta glanced at Gohan curiously but didn't say anything, his attention returning to the battle.

"Hello, everyone," said Gohan, following the battle himself. He couldn't sense the silver stranger's ki, so that must mean he's an android... or a god. Trunks seemed to be on the defensive, but he managed to efficiently dodge and block his opponent's quick attacks. It took Gohan a few moments to realize the stranger looked like his father and had the same fighting style.

"What is this, Vegeta?" He asked curiously. Every block by Trunks resulted in a shock wave that was absorbed by the force field, which caused the field to light up in a visible display of power.  
"Bulma and her minions created an artificial fighter, to help me train", Vegeta answered with a hint of pride in his voice, his eyes following every movement of both combatants. "Trunks is helping them test it. It's still not strong enough for me, but it's a good sparring partner for Trunks himself right now."

Pilaf must have heard Vegeta, because he shouted "Minions? I'll have you know that..."  
He was interrupted by an angry Bulma. "What are you doing! Pay attention to the power output!"  
"Yes Bulma!" Pilaf said automatically, deciding to forget the insult for now.

Gohan looked surprised. "Are you serious? It's strong enough to actually challenge Trunks? And why did you make it look like my dad?"  
Vegeta answered with his trademark evil half-smile, "Oh, that's just Bulma's idea. She thinks a robot shaped like Kakarot will motivate me to train harder."  
"I see," said Gohan. The friendly rivalry between Vegeta and his father made him uncomfortable recently. He felt that Beerus and Whis encouraged it, manipulating both warriors to make them stronger, probably to win more fights against Champa's fighters. Goku and Vegeta were veteran warriors who saved countless lives, they deserved more respect from the god of destruction.

"Well, boy, why are you here?" Vegeta asked impatiently.  
"Ah...", Gohan paused in embarrassment, "I... I came to ask you to train me."  
Vegeta's eyes opened in surprise, but his expression turned into a smug smile. "Ah, even Kakarot's son knows who the better master is. What happened to change your mind about fighting, was it your humiliating defeat in the tournament?"  
Gohan sighed internally, but he accepted Vegeta's abrasive personality years ago. "Actually yes, it was the tournament. I need to become stronger."  
"Very well," Vegeta said, radiating smug satisfaction. "First, I want to see how strong you are now. Let's get you fighting against the robot, if you're as strong as you were when you allowed Buu to absorb you, this should be interesting."  
Gohan nodded. "Fine, I'll do it."

Vegeta turned towards Bulma. "Woman! Kakarot's boy will take over for Trunks. Is the robot's second form ready yet?"  
Bulma looked up from the screen she was watching. "Woman? What woman?", she said angrily. "I don't see any 'woman' here!"  
Vegeta grunted. "Fine. Bulma! Is the damn thing ready yet?"  
Bulma checked the screen again. "Yes, it is." Finally noticing Gohan, she smiled and waved at him. "Mai, bring me another sensor shirt for Gohan, please, " said Bulma. Mai smiled at Gohan and ran inside the house. She came back to the gazebo area a couple of minutes later, carrying a black, shiny shirt with tiny metallic objects embedded into the material. "Good morning, Gohan", Mai said shyly as she handed him the shirt.  
"Wear it, Bulma needs it for her research", said Vegeta.  
"Good morning, Mai, thank you." Gohan took off his own shirt and put on the one Mai gave him.

Vegeta couldn't help but notice Gohan's bulging muscles. The younger half-Saiyan seemed to have increased his muscle mass significantly over the last few weeks. His progress was, as always, infuriatingly fast.  
"Half-human freak", Vegeta muttered to himself, but he was secretly happy. He remembered how Gohan used to be years ago, the young boy's immense power overwhelming even his own. The prospect of boosting Gohan to that same relative level, and then defeating him, kicked his Saiyan fighting instinct into overdrive.  
"Trunks! Stop fighting and come down here!", Vegeta shouted to his son. The force field deactivated and the boy flew down. The crowd outside the compound started to disperse, mildly disappointed – this show was slightly less exciting than usual.

Trunks landed next to Gohan and Vegeta, panting with exertion. He took off his own, smaller sensor shirt and waved to Gohan. "Hey, Gohan! You came to fight Kakarobot too?" This caused Vegeta to frown. "Trunks, we're not calling it by that stupid name." Trunks laughed. "Haha! Kakarobot! Kakarobot!" and flew into the main house, escaping before his father could respond. Mai ran after him, shouting "Trunks! Wait for me!".  
A red-faced Vegeta turned back to Gohan, who tried to hide his smile. "Well, boy, stop smiling like an idiot and fly up there. Get ready to fight", Vegeta said. Gohan nodded and took off, rising up to hover next to the strange android.

Up close, he could clearly see the lines between its metallic skin panels, and the eyes were obviously mechanical. The entire thing looked like his father, gi included, made entirely out of a shining, silvery metal. Only the eyes were some kind of crystal or advanced plastic material.  
"Gohan!" Bulma shouted from below. "Get ready, I'm going to activate the force field again, and then the robot will go super. Please don't attack it, just block or evade its attacks. It's still not completely ready and I don't want you to destroy it. Okay?"  
"Got it, Bulma!" Gohan responded, shifting into a defensive stance as the green force bubble appeared around him and the silvery android.

The robot looked at Gohan and spoke with a clearly artificial voice. "Hello, son, ready to spar?" It sounded almost like Goku, as if Goku spoke through some kind of filter to slightly mask his voice.  
Gohan nodded, not knowing how to react.  
"Good," said the robot without moving its lips, "but I think I should go super against you, you are very strong."  
"Go ahead," said Gohan. I definitely didn't expect this, he thought.

The mechanical Goku crouched slightly, elbows close to his sides and fists slightly raised. It was the familiar power-up stance, and immediately afterwards the robot started shouting. Gohan didn't feel any of its ki, so he couldn't tell if it was actually powering up, but then the robot's entire body changed color, from silver to bright gold. Its eyes started shining with a green light, and he could clearly hear a heightened mechanical buzz coming from inside the thing.  
"I hope you're ready, son," said the robot in a slightly deeper voice. "I'm as strong as Cell was in his perfect form, and I don't want to hurt you." The robot went into his father's familiar Turtle stance.  
Gohan smiled. "I'm ready for you, old man." After yesterday's painful realization and Videl's reaction, he could use some light sparring to improve his mood.

The golden robot charged forward, flying towards the half-Saiyan at lightning speed. Gohan had to admit, if not for Piccolo's recent training, he would not have been able to stand up to the robot. Bulma really outdid herself.  
But as he was now, the golden contraption seemed to be moving in slow motion. Gohan easily dodged all of its punches and kicks, noting the shock waves caused by every attack as they were absorbed by the glowing force field.

Eventually the robot shouted in what seemed like genuine anger. It aimed one of its hands downwards, towards Gohan's legs. With surprising speed and a loud roar, its clenched fist launched away from its body, threatening Gohan's knees. Gohan shot upward to avoid the attack, but the robot was ready for his move. Mechanical Goku's other arm rose up, and the robot shot a massive energy blast right at Gohan's position. The surprised Gohan didn't have enough time to dodge, and had to cross his arms in front of his head to block the deadly attack. He felt the heat of the energy blast engulf him, but Gohan's ki shield held, and the attack didn't damage him at all.

As the attack faded, Gohan saw that the robot changed back to silver, and was dropping down rapidly. Gohan flew towards it and caught the thing before it could crash on top of the Gazebo. As Bulma and Pilaf advanced toward him, Gohan landed and laid the robot gently on the well-tended grass.

"I'm proud of you, son," said the robot weakly, his energy clearly running out.  
Gohan frowned, but smiled at the robot as the light faded from its eyes. Bulma and Pilaf immediately started checking it, removing skin panels and connecting their own devices to exposed ports.  
"Bulma," said Gohan said with an accusatory tone, "don't tell me this thing is intelligent. Does it actually think it's my dad?"  
Bulme shook her head. "No, it's not an artificial intelligence, I just programmed him with realistic responses, it gets Vegeta in a fighting mood.  
"Good," said Gohan. "Intelligent beings shouldn't be enslaved by others, even if they're machines".  
Bulma smiled weakly and exchanged a guilty look with Pilaf, thinking about several of their other projects. "Y... yeah..."

Vegeta joined the three and looked at Gohan. "You're a weakling compared to me and Kakarot and the way you were surprised by that energy blast is shameful, but you were adequate. It's clear that your fighting spirit is back."  
That was the closest thing to a compliment Gohan was likely to get from the Saiyan prince. "Thanks, Vegeta," Gohan said. He looked at Bulma and Pilaf, who were focused on their devices to the point of ignoring the two warriors. "Looks like everything is okay here, can we talk somewhere private?"  
Vegeta gave Gohan a curious look, but said "Yes, come with me." Together, the pair started walking towards Vegeta's gravity chamber.


	4. Invitation

(Dende's Lookout, a few months later)

Gohan landed on the white tiles of the lookout floor, wearing a new green jumpsuit that fitted his heavier bulk and carrying a black sports bag over his shoulder. "Hello, Mr. Popo", he greeted Dende's assistant with a smile.

"Good day, Gohan", Mr. Popo answered in his soft, friendly voice. "What brings you here? I'm sure Dende will arrive to greet you himself any moment now."  
"It's fine, Mr. Popo." He lowered the bag to the floor and opened it. Inside were the seven dragon balls, gleaming as they reflect the sun's rays. "I really just wanted a place to call Shenron, it feels right to do it here. I hope you don't mind, " Gohan said while taking the spheres out of the bag, one by one.  
Mr. Popo nodded. "Not at all, you are always welcome here." He watched curiously as Gohan arranged the balls on the floor and stood up.  
Gohan looked at Popo. "Are you ready?"  
Popo nodded, and Gohan called out. "Rise, Shenron, and grant my wishes!"

The sky darkened as the wind picked up. The dragon balls were surrounded by a golden aura, and Shenron rose up with a thunderous roar. The gigantic dragon's body coiled above the lookout, moving rhythmically. After a few moments the dragon settled down into a fixed pose, looking down at the half-Saiyan who summoned him.  
"Speak your wishes, and I shall grant any two requests that are within my power", spoke Shenron. As always, the dragon's deep and powerful voice could be felt in the bones.

"Mighty dragon," said Gohan without hesitation, "for my first wish, I'd like to be able to survive in all environments, regardless of heat, radiation, pressure, the presence of air or any other environmental conditions."

The dragon seemed to be considering the request. "An unusual wish, but one that is within my power," he said after a few moments. Shenron's eyes shone, and a strange glow surrounded Gohan for a few moments before vanishing. "I have granted you the power to survive in all environments. But know this, should an environmental hazard be directed against you as an attack, the power will not block it if it is more powerful than my creator." Gohan nodded, and Shenron continued. "Your wish has been granted. Speak your second wish now, so that I may return to my slumber."

"Err.." Gohan hesitated. "Mighty Shenron, I'm not sure if you can grant my next wish, but here goes." As he was speaking, Dende hurried outside the main building to join Gohan and Mr. Popo. The young Namekian smiled and looked at the scene curiously. Gohan waved at Dende and continued.

"I wish to be able to fly between the stars at immense speeds, as fast as Whis himself," he said.  
The dragon shifted, coiling his body for a few moments. "This wish is far beyond my power. Whis' power dwarfs that of my creator, I cannot hope to match his speed of travel."  
Gohan expected this. "Alright, how about as fast as the fastest spaceship, then?".

Before Shenron could answer, Dende said "Wait! I have a better idea." Dende didn't know why his friend wanted to fly between the stars, but he knew the dragon better than anyone and simply felt like helping. "Gohan, what if you could fly as fast as the fastest spaceship built by humans, but could also expend your own energy to fly faster? Will that be alright?"

Gohan's eyes opened in surprise. He didn't even consider that. "Of course! That's genius, Dende! It will be similar to normal flight, then?"  
Dende nodded. "Yes, exactly. The more power you put into it, the faster you will fly. That way you could fly much faster than usual, but it will tire you out eventually."

Gohan smiled at his friend. "That's perfect." Looking back at immense dragon hovering above them, he continued. "Mighty Shenron, grant me the power to fly between the stars as fast the fastest spaceship built by humans, and make it so that I could expend more of my own energy to be able to fly even faster."  
The dragon didn't respond for a few moments, but then spoke. "An interesting request, but one that is within my power." Shenron's eyes started glowing again, and Gohan felt light-headed for a moment.

"Your wish has been granted," thundered Shenron. "Know this, however. To access this miraculous speed you need to leave the planet. You will slow down to your normal flight speed the moment you approach the border of a celestial body, or come in contact with any physical object out in space."  
"I understand, Shenron. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it." Gohan bowed in respect.

The dragon nodded once, and started speaking again, shaking the lookout slightly with each word. "Your wishes have been granted. Farewell!"

Shenron vanished with a flash, and the dragon balls rose into the air while the light returned to the sky. Before the orbs could fly away, Gohan leaped with blinding speed and caught the four-star ball. He landed as the shining orange sphere turned into dull, gray stone. "Dad will be happy to see this little guy again," Gohan said to himself.

Dende and Mr. Popo approached Gohan, who put the stone orb into his bag. "Everything alright, Gohan?" asked Dende. "Are you planning to go visit someone in space?".  
Gohan's face grew darker. "Yeah, I'm going see someone about some unfinished business." Dende wasn't used to seeing his friend in such a serious mood, but after a few moments Gohan seemed to lighten up and smile again.

"Before I forget," Gohan told Dende and Popo, "I also wanted to tell you something. Three days from now we're all going to meet outside my father's house at noon, and I wanted to invite you two to come along. You can make it, right?"  
Dende nodded. "Of course," and looked at Popo. "I'm sorry Gohan," the helper said, "thank you for the invitation, but I must remain here to watch over the lookout."  
"No problems, Mr. Popo, I'll bring you something up here myself," said Gohan, and turned to look at Dende. "You should know, I asked dad and Vegeta to conduct the Super Saiyan God ritual, this time for me. Bulma heard about it and decided to come with Vegeta, and from there it turned into a massive barbecue. Took a few weeks to arrange, but everyone will be there."  
Dende was happy to hear the news. "Great! It will be good to see everyone again."

Gohan looked at the sky. The sun was starting to set, and the clouds to the west were turning red. "Well, see you then. Goodbye, guys!" Gohan's aura flared and he flew away, vanishing in an instant. Dende and Popo had to shield themselves from the wind caused by Gohan's departure, and Popo looked at Dende as the sudden breeze calmed down. "Something is wrong, Dende. Gohan has changed."

Dende nodded, looking worried. "I felt it too. For a moment there he looked almost... scary."  
Holding the Guardian's staff, Dende walked up to the lookout's edge and closed his eyes. "I don't understand, everything seems to be alright, the world is at peace. What could be bothering Gohan?"  
After a few moments, Popo shook his head. "Perhaps you should ask him to confide in you when you meet him." He didn't like seeing Dende so worried. "Come, Dende, maybe I was mistaken. It's Gohan, after all."  
Dende opened his eyes and looked at his assistant. His unease refused to fade, but it didn't feel right to bother Gohan with questions right now. "You're right, Popo. Thank you." The two started walking away from the edge, enjoying the evening breeze.


	5. Ritual

(Outside Goku and Chi-Chi's house, three days later, noon)

The fighters were gathered outside Goku's house along with their friends and families. When Gohan arrived with Videl and Pan the only people there were Goku, Chi Chi, Goten and Ox King, but soon afterwards the others started showing up. Bulma, Vegeta, Trunks and baby Bulla came first, accompanied by Mai, Pilaf, Shu, and, for some reason, the alien policeman Jaco and the robotic version of Goku.  
Dende, Piccolo, Korin and Yajirobe materialized moments after Bulma and her three minions finished setting up the massive barbecue tent. Yamcha and Puar arrived by air-car after picking up Roshi and Oolong. Tien and Chaotzu flew in soon after, still wearing their dojo robes. 17 arrived, flying a large helicopter that also seated Krillin, 18, and Maron. As the little blond girl ran out to play with Trunks and Goten, an extremely massive, noisy flying truck heralded the coming of Mr. Satan and Buu.  
Mr. Satan wisely decided to bring vast quantities of food, enough to appease even the hungriest, angriest god.  
And finally came the moment Gohan dreaded. He hoped they wouldn't come, but Whis and Beerus appeared in a rainbow flash just before the cooking staff hired by Hercule finished setting up the food stalls.

Vegeta was leaning against a tree, as far away from everyone else as possible, apparently ignoring the preparations other than greeting Whis and Beerus. Goku was busy inspecting his robotic counterpart while the silver android did the same to him, the pair mimicking each other's movements almost perfectly, much to the delight of Maron, Goten and Trunks. Vegeta's eyebrows twitched every time he heard his son utter the name "Kakarobot".

Bulma, Chi Chi, 18 and Videl relaxed around one of the tables after Hercule's staff took over most of the work. Videl held a red ribbon that was tied around Pan's waist and shoulders, with the baby hovering around the four older women like a floating balloon. "She keeps flying around all the time, I'm worried that her legs won't develop if she doesn't crawl like a normal baby", said Videl. The others looked at her curiously. "Funny," said 18, "but I think she'll turn out fine."  
Chi Chi looked worried, and Bulma asked "So Videl, how's Gohan doing now?"  
Videl sighed. "He left the university, so he's not working anymore. Every day he's out there training, sometimes alone and some days with Vegeta, Goku or Piccolo."

Bulma leaned closer, curious. "Yeah, Vegeta and Gohan had a few training sessions lately. So how are you with money, is your father helping?"  
"Well, he gave us some money when we got married, but that was it. Now Gohan bought some ground outside the city and hired a contractor to build a couple of apartment buildings there. The apartments are already rented out, and he even hired a few people to manage everything. I only have to take care of special emergencies, and that's it."  
Bulma and 18 were impressed, and Chi Chi smiled with pride. "Wow," said Bulma, "I didn't know Gohan was into real estate."  
"He really isn't," replied Videl, "it's just something he got into lately, probably so we could have some income."

A shadow fell over the four women, and the flying baby squealed happily. Piccolo and Dende approached them, and Piccolo turned to Videl while gently holding Pan. "Videl, do you have some of that spring water with you?" He asked.  
"Oh yeah!" Videl got up, gave her ribbon to the Namekian warrior, and entered Goku's house to bring the water.  
She came back moments later, pouring two glasses for Piccolo and Dende. They both sipped politely, and Dende's eyes widened in surprise. "This is really good!"

Across the large tent, a team of professional chefs and waiters were entertaining Whis, Beerus and Buu. Beerus and Whis were given a table of their own, while Buu shared a table with Hercule. Gohan watched the god and his angel from farther away, hoping against hope that they would ignore him. Beerus was eating huge amounts of food, and as each plate or bowl was emptied, two smiling waiters brought new ones full of more delicacies. A short, rotund chef stood nearby, answering all of Whis' questions about the various dishes.

After a particularly tasty bowl of spiced ramen, Beerus took a little break and asked for a glass of water. As the waiter poured him a glass, Beerus looked around, saw Gohan and called him over. "You, come here!"  
Gohan started walking towards the divine pair, trying not to think about his plans. He knew Beerus and Whis were extremely perceptive, and might unmask him here and now if he was unlucky. This was the first challenge he had foreseen, and there was nothing he could do about it other than ask Videl's father to bring as much food as possible, and make sure Beerus and Whis were in the best of moods.

"So," Beerus began after Gohan arrived at the table, "you want to be a god as well, now?"  
"Yes, lord Beerus," answered Gohan as calmly as he could.  
"You look nervous, boy," Beerus looked into Gohan's eyes, and the half-Saiyan imagined the catlike god sifting through all his secrets.  
"I am, lord Beerus," he answered after a few moments, trying to calm himself.  
"What's the matter? You think there's a reason to be nervous?" Beerus started tapping on the table with one of his claws.  
"Oh, lord Beerus, leave the poor boy alone," Whis intervened with a smile. "He's obviously afraid because of the ritual, let's not scare him even more and ruin the whole thing."  
"Eh, whatever", Beerus shrugged, raising one of his eyebrows. Immediately afterwards a waiter brought a fresh tray of sliced meat, and the god of destruction lost interest in Gohan. "Good luck with your super saiyan god ritual, boy," he said, and dove into the new dish. Whis smiled at Gohan and resumed eating his own food, the angel's eyes closing in bliss as the short chef standing next to him practically radiated professional pride.

Before the ritual itself, Whis and Beerus excused themselves and left. To Gohan surprise, it appeared that Beerus ate too much, and was now sleepy and unresponsive. Whis was supporting the god of destruction with one hand while holding his staff with the other. Before they left, their personal chef ran over and handed Whis a capsule full of more dishes they haven't tried yet. The sleepy Beerus made a half-hearted move to snatch the capsule and open it then and there, but Whis quickly raised and lowered his staff, hitting the ground gently and sending the pair on their way.  
Gohan waited for a few moments after they vanished, holding his breath, but it appeared that the massive amounts of food prepared by Hercule's staff worked even better than expected.

The time for the ritual came, the cooking staff left, and the participating warriors with Saiyan blood gathered in the shade beneath a tall tree. Vegeta, who kept to himself for most of the event, was the first to speak.  
"Gohan, remember what I told you about the ritual." The younger half-Saiyan knew that if Vegeta used his proper name, he was being serious.  
The prince continued. "The god transformation will run its course after a few minutes. While you have the power, don't waste time, fly to the edges of the atmosphere and there we will spar. As we fight your body will absorb the divine ki and become much stronger, but it won't happen unless you're pushing your limits. I won't be holding back, understand?"

Gohan nodded, but a slightly annoyed Goku intervened. "Wait a second, how come you get to fight him?"  
Vegeta's smug half-smile returned. "Now now, Kakarot, we don't know if you're fully recovered from your mighty ultra instinct transformation at the tournament. We wouldn't want your son to fight against an opponent who isn't at full strength in such a crucial moment, now would we?"  
"But Vegeta," complained Goku, "it's been months since then, of course I'm recovered."  
Vegeta's smiled vanished. "Well I don't want to gamble on it. I should be the one to fight."  
Goten and Trunks started laughing as their fathers stared daggers at each other. Over at the tent, where the others were relaxing, Roshi muttered "These two never change, do they."  
"Dad," Gohan stepped between the two rivals. "It's okay, I'll fight Vegeta this time and spar with you later, alright?"  
"Okay, Gohan," Goku smiled, relaxing. "It's your big day."

Videl stood next to the warriors, holding Pan close to her as if refusing to let her go join the others. "Guys, I'm not sure about this, what if Pan gets hurt during the ritual?"  
"Impossible", said Vegeta. "Your daughter is absurdly powerful for a baby. Look at her, already flying even before she can walk. I'm certain she could take on a Saibaman or two right now." Vegeta sounded slightly offended by this. "She participated in the first ritual while barely able to form a coherent thought, there's no doubt in my mind that she'll be fine."  
Sensing the attention, Pan seemed to agree with the Saiyan prince. "Ooo! Ooo!" she raised and lowered her arms, forcing Videl to use her own ki to prevent her baby from flying up.  
Disgusting, thought Vegeta to himself while looking at the tiny girl in Videl's arms. The legendary power of the Saiyan race, now reduced to the level of a mere toddler's toy. He almost smiled then, imagining his father and the royal advisers trying to make sense of Pan's inexplicable power. How weak they all were, how ignorant of their true potential.

"Alright," said Goku, "let's do this." He put one hand on Gohan's back, below his son's right shoulder. Vegeta nodded and moved to the opposite side from Goku. The saiyan prince then put his hand on Gohan's back as well, below his left shoulder.  
Trunks and Goten stood facing each other, each child holding his father's hand. Between them hovered the tiny Pan, holding Trunks and Goten's hands and completing the circle. Videl stood right behind Pan, still slightly worried.  
Goku smiled at his son's wife. "Don't worry, Videl, Pan will be fine. She's a natural at this." Videl nodded, Goku's confidence calming her fears. She took a few steps back and waited for the ritual to begin.

"It's time," Said Vegeta.  
"Go ahead, everyone," said Goku. "Remember, it's not just about giving your ki to another, it's about sharing your heart."  
The three men and two young boys closed their eyes and began to concentrate. Baby Pan, feeling curious, opened up her ki sense and looked around in wonder. Her eyes closed as well, and she began to mimic what the others were doing with their energy, guided by her saiyan instincts.

Trunks imagined Gohan when he came back to Earth, during the fight against the evil version of Buu. He still remembered sensing that power for the first time, it was like a sun lighting up a dark room, eclipsing even Goku's earth-shaking transformation from earlier. The young boy could never reconcile that memory with the weaker, more passive Gohan he knew these last few years, but now, looking at Gohan's more muscular back, Trunks remembered that feeling of overwhelming strength. "You can do this, Gohan," the purple-haired boy smiled as he concentrated on the memory.

Goten imagined Gohan even before Goku came to visit them at the world tournament. His big brother was the coolest, the biggest, the strongest ever. He saved the world once, he could do anything. He even became a superhero, wearing the coolest outfit ever, and later married the prettiest girl Goten has ever seen. Goten didn't put his thoughts into words, he simply knew Gohan was the best, and concentrated on that feeling.

For pan, her father was always the strongest man in the universe. He could do anything. She was absolutely certain of it, no doubts whatsoever. Pan had no words, but the baby's innocent faith in her father poured into Gohan effortlessly.

Vegeta imagined Gohan as he best remembered him. A young boy, bruised and bloodied, surrounded by the incredible aura of his perfected super saiyan transformation. He remembered the awe he felt back then, and poured this memory into Gohan's back. "Grow strong and powerful, Gohan, become the warrior you were meant to be. Show the universe what it means to be a Saiyan," Vegeta thought as he concentrated on the memory.

Goku imagined Gohan all throughout his life. A baby, an innocent child with power hidden deep within, a young boy fighting bravely at his side, a young man protecting his first love, a scholar doing things Goku could never understand, a father to a precious granddaughter, and finally a warrior again, standing up against terrible opponents to save their entire universe. "Continue on your path, my son. Never stop improving. You still haven't come close to discovering your true potential," Goku thought as he concentrated on the memories.

Gohan could feel the others' energy pouring into him, their ki warm with years of hopes and memories. He could only breathe silently while a river of energy flowed into his soul.

The sky darkened and the wind picked up. Soon the clouds covered the sky from horizon to horizon, the only light coming from a clear patch directly above the gathering, the eye of the storm. Remembering the last ritual, the spectating non-saiyans either retreated into the tent or put on their rain coats. Krillin, Tien and 17 were the only ones who remained outside and without any protective gear. Tien's expression was unreadable, while Krillin thought back on all the adventures he and Gohan shared. 17 didn't seem to notice the storm at all, simply watching the ritual.

The weather got worse, and the chaotic skies filled with lightning, rain and hail. As the lightning strikes grew more and more powerful and the wind threatened to blow the tent away, 17 looked around at the others. "Is it supposed to be this bad?", he asked.  
Krillin looked at him and shook his ahead. "It wasn't this bad last time".  
17 sighed. "Fine." Without moving a muscle, he caused a green force field to appear around them, even creating a smaller one around Videl, who stood closer to the saiyans. The field protected everyone from the wind, the rain, the hail and the lightning, although Krillin noted it was still a little bit chilly inside.  
Tien looked at 17 in surprise. "Thanks, 17, I wasn't sure if we could remain here, to be honest."  
17 looked at Tien and nodded, remaining silent.

A few minutes passed. Through the force field, the assembled group could see the full, destructive force of the unnatural storm, with many lightning strikes hitting the nearby forest and blasting trees into wooden shrapnel. Although they could barely hear the thunder through the field, they all felt tremors and a change in the air. Several of them swallowed to release the pressure building up inside their ears.  
Maron became restless, so 18 took her outside to stand next to 17. "You know, maybe you were right not to bring your wife and children here," she said.  
17 smiled. "I'm pretty sure they would have loved to see this, but yeah, this is getting crazy."

Finally, a beam of pure, blinding blue light formed around the circle of saiyans, shooting up into the sky. The beam grew wider and wider, engulfing the entire area. It seemed to go on and on forever, until they could barely tell how much time had passed.  
Eventually the beam receded, and the sky began to clear. 17 canceled the force fields as the last vestiges of the storm faded away. The saiyans were no longer holding hands, and Videl rushed forward to hug her daughter.

Vegeta, Goku and the others seemed to snap out of a deep trance. Pan was exhausted, and immediately feel asleep in Videl's arms.  
Where Gohan stood there was only an aura of intense red flame, with an outline of a human form in its center.  
"Amazing," Krillin said. "I can't sense Gohan's energy anymore, but his power... you can feel it in the air..."

The aura faded slowly, revealing Gohan's new god form. He was slender now, as slender as he was before he started training with Piccolo, and his hair and eyes were a startling, bright red. Gohan looked around in wonder, raising his head to stare at the sky and lowering it to look at himself and the rest of the group. "I... this is amazing...", his senses were magnified beyond anything he could ever imagine. He could barely make sense of it all. "So this is... this is divine ki..." Gohan whispered, in awe of what he was experiencing.

Vegeta spoke harshly, dispelling Gohan's wonder and replacing it with urgency. "Don't lose yourself, boy, you'll have plenty of time to admire the scenery after I punch some sense into you. Follow me, right now." Without waiting for an answer, Vegeta's aura flared and he launched himself into the sky. Shaking his head to focus, Gohan's aura of red flames rekindled and he shot up after Vegeta, followed after a few moments by a proud Goku.

"This is so cool, Trunks!" Goten smiled at his friend. "Let's go watch the fight!" Trunks nodded, but then had second thoughts. "You go ahead, Goten," he said while sneaking a look at Mai. "I'm going to stay here, okay?" Goten looked at Trunks curiously but was too enthusiastic to question his decision. "Okay Trunks, see you later!" Goten said and flew away.

17 took off as well, followed by Krillin and Tien. Before leaving, Tien looked back and called out to Yamcha. "Hey, you want to come?"  
"No thanks," smiled the scarred ex-bandit. "I'm good right here. You go ahead and have fun."

On the ground, a proud Chi Chi half-joked about having two gods in the family, compared to Bulma's one. "Oh yeah?" Bulma answered while walking to her robot, "well, we still have Trunks and Bulla, you better hope Goten can keep up".

Bulma knocked on the robot's metallic back. "Hey, you in there?"  
"Yes, Bulma," answered the robot in his mechanical voice.  
"Well, don't just stand there. Fly up after them and transmit the battle to us, I want to see what's going on. And don't get destroyed, keep your distance."  
The silver robot nodded and flew up into the sky. Bulma set up a large computer screen that everyone crowded around, and they all sat down to watch the fight.


	6. Battle Above the Earth

[Author's Note: Regarding power scaling, I believe the writers of Super did a horrible, horrible job throughout the series. They were basically looking for a way to make other characters relevant, and chose to do it by powering everyone up for no reason and powering Goku down for no reason. They SAID Gohan is very powerful, but then went and made everything he did irrelevant. I'm a HUGE Gohan fan and this really flipped my pancakes, especially when RIBRIENNE got more screen time than him. I'm also a huge Vegeta fan, but Vegeta had plenty of great moments. Anyway, here's the power scaling in this story, presented as a relative scale in order from strongest to weakest ("and" means these characters are on the same general level, most of the time):

Before Chapter 1 (after the tournament of power): Whis - Beerus - Goku and Vegeta - Freeza - Gohan and 17  
Before Chapter 5 (before the ritual, after months of training) : Whis - Beerus - Goku and Vegeta - Gohan - 17

We still don't know how strong Gohan is compared to Freeza. Anyway, back to the story]

(Low Earth orbit)

Vegeta soared upwards, followed closely by the newly transformed Gohan. Vegeta, still in his base form, stopped suddenly. Gohan stopped as well, and they both hovered for a few moments, high above the earth. At these altitudes Gohan could see the world below him extend for hundreds of miles in every direction, a sparkling blue-green gem covered by a feathery blanket of clouds, and above him the limitless void of space. Before he could admire it all, however, Vegeta attacked.

The saiyan prince opened with a flurry of kicks and punches. Every one of his strikes was parried by Gohan's arms or legs, each hit followed by a thunderous shockwave powerful enough to be heard by the spectators on the ground. To Gohan it seemed that Vegeta was moving in slow motion, but he noticed his opponent's relaxed attitude and could tell Vegeta was only testing him.

After a few seconds of furious attack, Vegeta smiled and fired a massive ki blast. Gohan deflected the gigantic blue orb with a quick movement of his left arm, but that moment gave Vegeta enough time to power up. Gohan could sense it more clearly than ever before, and detected Vegeta's divine aura flare and extend while remaining untransformed.

Gohan reacted before Vegeta had time to finish powering up, charging at his opponent and attacking with powerful spinning kick. Vegeta had no time to parry or dodge properly, but with a quick burst of ki he managed to propel himself just so, and Gohan's kick connected with his shoulder instead of his elbow. The impact was much more powerful than Gohan had anticipated, releasing a shockwave that cleared the atmosphere below of clouds and launched Vegeta away. Gohan was surprised to see Vegeta bruised but relatively unharmed. It took him a few moments to realize what happened: As his father had mentioned in the past, the power of the god transformation required the warrior to channel and direct his ki much more precisely. Gohan simply kicked Vegeta as he normally would, channeling his ki inside his body and giving no thought to the divine energy carelessly released by the blow.

Goku, Krillin, Goten, Piccolo, Tien and 17 were watching the fight from below, hovering in the upper atmosphere along with the silvery robot Goku. Krillin was struggling to keep up with the saiyans' movements, but Gohan's mistake was plain to see. "If Gohan doesn't focus," Krillin thought to himself, "Vegeta is going to pummel him into next week. Maybe I should make sure Korin has some beans, just in case..."

Gohan's moment of introspection was enough for Vegeta to power up even further, and the half-saiyan was surprised by Vegeta's next move – a lighting-fast charge that ended with Vegeta's fist buried in Gohan's gut. Gohan was launched backwards, flaming red aura flaring and sputtering, but he recovered only a fraction of a second later. The distracted Gohan was caught by surprise, but he barely even felt the attack.

Vegeta was only beginning. The prince powered up to super saiyan with a silent yell, Vegeta's yellow aura expanding furiously as his hair turned golden and his eyes green. This gave Gohan the time to charge an immense energy blast and launch it at his opponent, first flying beneath Vegeta so the blast would travel away from Earth. Vegeta just barely dodged the house-sized orb of energy, and Gohan's blast exploded above them, temporarily lighting up that entire area of the world with fiery radiance.

As part of his dodge, Vegeta flew in an arc around Gohan and began firing a rapid series of smaller blasts from both hands. Gohan watched the advancing blasts travel towards him relatively slowly, and started deflecting them deeper into space without even bothering to dodge. He didn't see Vegeta's smile, and the prince powered up even further while his rapid-fire attack continued. As a result, Gohan was almost overwhelmed by a massive swarm of energy blasts that were much faster and deadlier than the ones he started deflecting moments before. With a silent shout and a burst of divine ki, Gohan's aura flared and he launched himself away from the arc of blasts at a speed that left Krillin and Piccolo speechless.

"Vegeta is toying with him", the Namekian thought to himself, "he's constantly powering up while Gohan is still getting used to the transformation." Piccolo hoped Gohan would reveal some hidden power and wipe away Vegeta's annoying smirk, but the prince's power, already at unimaginable levels, just kept rising and rising. "He's on a completely different level from Gohan... dammit... Vegeta is using just a small fraction of his full strength, Gohan doesn't stand a chance."

Gohan effortlessly evaded the rapid stream of Vegeta's energy blasts, rotated to face Vegeta while still flying in same direction, and fired a kamehameha beam at the saiyan prince after making sure the planet wasn't in the way. Vegeta's smile widened as his lust for battle intensified; the searing blue beam was too fast for him to dodge, he had no choice but to block. Vegeta braced himself against the attack a fraction of a second before Gohan's energy engulfed him. For a moment Gohan thought his kamehameha had overpowered Vegeta, but as the beam dispersed he could see his opponent in his full glory, surrounded by the intense aura of Vegeta's super saiyan blue transformation.

Vegeta shook his slightly bruised arms while his eyes met Gohan's, and charged again, this time almost too fast for Gohan to see. Vegeta appeared in front of Gohan instantly, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks that Gohan barely managed to block. After a series of strikes left Gohan's midsection vulnerable, Vegeta lashed out with a powerful kick that hit Gohan in the ribs, impacting with tremendous power and launching Gohan deeper into space.

"Vegeta!" The attacking saiyan paused for a moment, hearing Piccolo's telepathic shout in his mind. "What are you doing?! Don't kill him!" From his higher vantage point, Vegeta looked down at the Namekian for a moment, smirking, and flew after Gohan. "Oh, when I'm through with him Kakarot's brat will wish he was dead," Vegeta responded telepathically. Piccolo looked above him at Goku, who hovered nearby and followed the combatants' every movement. Goku didn't seem to be worried, so Piccolo forced himself to relax as well. "Crazy saiyans..." he thought to himself. Goku turned to look at him and smiled. "Oh relax, Piccolo," Goku's mental voice was as cheerful as ever, "Vegeta knows what he's doing".

Vegeta flew after Gohan, appearing behind the dazed half-saiyan before Gohan could come to his senses. As the prince prepared a devastating blow that would send his younger opponent plummeting back down, the newly transformed saiyan god suddenly rotated in place. Vegeta's earlier kick probably broke a rib or two, but Gohan managed to overcome the pain and aim a devastating punch into Vegeta's chest as the older saiyan raised his arms and prepared to strike. This time Gohan could feel the godly energy beginning to expand in all directions, and managed to funnel it into one point – his striking fist – an instant before contact.

The shockwave from the powerful attack battered the spectators below and caused Krillin, Goten, Piccolo and Tien to scatter. 17 and Goku just hovered in place, apparently too involved in the battle to notice.

Vegeta was flung away, taken completely by surprise. He regained control a few moments later, giving Gohan a few moments to recharge and prepare another kamehameha. Gohan was wounded, his broken ribs sending waves of pain throughout his body with each breath. He knew his time was almost up, and this was his last chance to attack.

The older saiyan hovered in place some distance away, looking at Gohan with anger. "How is he even standing up to me?! That's it! No more holding back!" Vegeta spread his arms and legs, gathering his divine ki into a knot deep in his stomach. He imagined Gohan's god aura fading, the ritual failing, all because he couldn't give it his all. He had to drive Gohan to the brink of death to make sure the half-saiyan's body absorbed the god ki, otherwise the ritual might fail. Normally he wouldn't care about another's weakness, but... Vegeta couldn't forget Gohan's overwhelming strength all those years ago. The young half-saiyan had chosen him as his mentor and Vegeta accepted the responsibility. He made a promise to Gohan, and the prince didn't intend to go back on his word. Concentrating on the energy compressed inside his body, Vegeta released all his ki with a silent shout. His blue aura expanded even further, erupting with turquoise light as he transformed into his ultimate blue form.

The rush of air and energy could be felt even by the people on the ground. A sudden wind threatened to topple Bulma's tent, and the light coming from outside suddenly grew brighter and changed in color, casting double shadows that drew Oolong's attention. Oolong peeked outside, and quickly returned to his chair, his face pale. The gathered friends were huddled around Bulma's screen, most of them not paying attention to what was happening outside. "Hey, guys..." he stammered , "there's another sun up there, and it's blue. Nothing special, just letting you know."

The two opponents faced each other high above the earth, Vegeta's aura a vortex of bright blue light and Gohan surrounded by red, unstable flames. Vegeta slowly brought his arms closer together while extending them in front of his face, a blindingly bright orb of energy growing between his palms. Gohan's palms were cupped at his side as he powered up a divine kamehameha. Silently, Gohan extended his arms forward just as Vegeta's final flash erupted towards him. The two massive energy beams clashed between the combatants in a furious vortex of power, lighting up the entire hemisphere and causing streams of aurora borealis to appear in the sky all around the world. As Gohan struggled against Vegeta's overwhelming might, he could hear Vegeta's telepathic message. "You are much more powerful than I was when I first transformed, but not powerful enough." Vegeta diverted more divine ki into his attack, slowly pushing Gohan backwards. "Accept your defeat, boy!"

Gohan gave it everything he had. Gritting his teeth and fighting through the pain, every drop of his energy and willpower were poured into this last kamehameha. The effort was enough to halt Vegeta's push, but the older saiyan increased the intensity of his attack until it was too much for Gohan to resist.  
The final flash broke through the kamehameha, dispersing it and engulfing Gohan in an angry stream of white-hot energy.

As the energy beam dissipated, Vegeta's eyes opened in surprise. Gohan's aura was gone, the boy was drifting in his base form, apparently unconscious - but Vegeta could clearly feel him powering up with even more divine ki! As Vegeta, Goku and the others flew closer to inspect Gohan, they could all feel heat waves emanate from the young half-saiyan. "What's happening, Goku?" Asked Krillin in a terrified mental voice. He couldn't sense Gohan's energy at all, and for a few moments he was certain Vegeta's attack killed his friend's son. But the heat radiating from the young man was very easy to feel, and was constantly rising.

As Goku, Vegeta and 17 flew closer to Gohan, the rising heat forced the others to retreat. Goten tried to shield his face and fly towards his big brother, but the mechanical Goku grabbed him, hugged the child close and flew back towards the ground.

Goku flew close to Gohan, powering up to super saiyan blue and joining Vegeta. 17 remained behind the two warriors, his force field protecting him, Piccolo, Tien and Krillin from the unbearable and constantly rising heat this close to Gohan's unconscious form.  
"Vegeta," Piccolo's angry thought reached them all. "What did you do?"  
"I don't owe you any explanations, Namekian," Vegeta responded telepathically, "but I did nothing to the boy."

17 could hear the others converse, but couldn't respond. Instead, he tapped Krillin's shoulder to draw the small warrior's attention. The android then pointed at Gohan, powered up a blast in his palm, and mimed releasing it at the earth.  
It took a moment for Krillin to understand. "Uh, guys," he thought, "Gohan is sending out some serious heat out here, we need to do something or the entire earth is going to turn into one huge barbecue."

"I think I know what's going on," Goku's voice reached their minds, this time sounding much more serious. "Gohan absorbed the god ki into his base form, like I did. But my son did that ritual with Elder Kai years ago, so all his power from his super saiyan transformations is there for him without even transforming. Super saiyan blue is the super saiyan transformation of a super saiyan god, so I think he is trying to control all the power of blue without any training at all, and he's exhausted after the sparring session. Gohan is going to burn up if we don't do something."

"Gohan is wounded, but he's been through worse," thought Piccolo. "He shouldn't even be unconscious. If something is wrong, it must be inside his mind."  
Goku concentrated for a few moments, and then frowned. "I can't get through to him with my thoughts, he's blocking me. If he's really unconscious he should be wide open."  
"I've been trying to enter his mind ever since the battle ended," came Piccolo's telepathic answer, "he's going through some kind of nightmare and is either blocking or ignoring me."  
"I can't reach him either," Krillin thought. "What if we team up and try to reach him together?"  
Piccolo frowned. "Group telepathy isn't exactly easy. We need to meditate together first, and that will require some time. The entire planet may be burnt toast by the time we're ready."

Vegeta intervened in the telepathic conversation. "Is there anywhere we can store him for a while to buy some time? We can't just bring him down to Earth, he'll burn up the entire surface in a few moments if he keeps this up."  
The others tried coming up with ideas, but Piccolo spoke first. "Dende told me Gohan made two strange wishes a few days ago, maybe he knew this was going to happen. He can survive in all environments now, we could just transport him into deep space while we help him telepathically."  
The others looked at him in surprise after hearing the unexpected news. Vegeta was the first to react. "Namekian, you seem to be the most powerful telepath here. Can you maintain contact with Gohan, even across vast distances?"  
"Yes," Piccolo answered, "as long as he's in the same dimension I should be able to reach him anywhere at this point."  
Without warning, Vegeta released a powerful telekinetic burst, and Gohan was flung away into deep space at an unimaginable speed.  
The others looked at him with varying degrees of anger and disbelief. "Oh relax," Vegeta smirked, "the boy may be unconscious, but he's so powered up right now he could survive much worse."

"We need to do this now, Goku," thought Piccolo. "But Gohan's mind is rejecting all contact, I don't know if we can get through to him, even if we work together."  
"I might know a way," Tien spoke telepathically for the first time. "I think Gohan's mind will accept telepathic contact with his wife, or maybe his mother or daughter. We're all warriors, maybe in his mind we're all associated with combat and terrible calamities, but he might relax around Videl or Chi Chi."  
"Oh, not Chi Chi," smiled Goku sadly, "she's not very... relaxed. But maybe Videl can help us."  
"It's decided, then," transmitted Piccolo. "I'll remain here to maintain contact with Gohan, there are less distractions up here. The rest of you fly back down to earth. Goku and the rest of you, get in mental contact with Videl and then contact me, all of us together might manage to get through to Gohan and fix whatever is wrong with him".


	7. Strange Land

[Author's note: Changed 17 to Seventeen and 18 to Eighteen, sounds more natural that way.]

(Outside Goku and Chi Chi's house, afternoon)

The warriors returned to their friends and relatives waiting on the ground, and saw Bulma and Eighteen comforting Chi Chi and Videl inside the massive tent. All the fighting in the upper atmosphere caused the weather to shift, and presently a cold wind was blowing through the surrounding forest.

"Come on, Chi Chi," Goku told his crying wife, "It's going to be fine, you'll see."  
Bulma was gently rubbing Chi Chi's back, and Vegeta stood behind his wife, looking at the crying woman uncomfortably. "Let's begin, Kakarot," said the prince, "we need to get this over with."

"Right," Goku reluctantly left Chi Chi in Bulma's hands and turned to Videl. "Videl, we're going to need your help this time. Have you ever done image training before?"  
The worried Videl nodded. "Yes, I trained with Gohan a few times." After a short pause, she added "it... it was easier to practice poses that way."  
"Good," said Goku, "this is going to be very similar, except a few of us are going to link up at once. We need you to help us with Gohan, he might be easier to contact if you come along."  
Videl took a deep breath and nodded, having made up her mind already.

"I'm coming too, Goku," said Tien from the tent entrance. "I know I'm not as strong as you, but I have been studying psychic powers ever since I was a child. I'm sure I can help."  
Goku smiled. "Thanks, Tien."  
The tiny Chaotzu looked up at his three-eyed friend, and said "be careful, Tien".

After a few moments with their families and friends, Goku, Vegeta, Videl, Krillin and Tien sat down in the middle of the tent to meditate. The rest of the gathered friends wished them luck and went inside the house. Only the curious Seventeen remained, saying nothing.

Other than Videl, who was a relative beginner, all the warriors had years of experience with psychic training and mediation. It took them a few minutes to coordinate their minds, but they soon found themselves in what appeared to be Dende's lookout, with Piccolo waiting for them outside the temple entrance. This mental version of the lookout was surrounded by a black void, however, instead of the usual sky.

Piccolo looked at Videl and nodded, and then addressed the entire group. "All right. We're going to attempt to contact Gohan now, all of us together. Videl, simply think about Gohan and try to call out to him with your mind, we'll do the rest."  
Videl nodded, still looking around nervously. When she and Gohan used image training, their mental environment was significantly more mundane – usually it was their own house.

The warriors grew quiet and closed their eyes. Videl looked at them for a moment, then closed her eyes as well and concentrated.

"Gohan, please answer us," she thought, accompanied by mental images of baby pan crying. Earlier, after robot Goku came back into the tent still holding the agitated Goten, they realized something went wrong with the sparring session. Everyone in the tent went completely quiet, and a few moments later Pan was the first to make a sound. The baby's cries triggered the tears of her grandmother as well, and soon they were all trying to comfort both Chi Chi and Pan.

Time passed. It was difficult to tell how long it took, and the others were still concentrating every time Videl opened her eyes to look around.

"I have it," Tien said after a while, and they could immediately see a path open up in the empty space surrounding the lookout, connecting with the lookout's edge and reaching out into the void. It looked like an endless, meandering strip of earth and grass, complete with a few flowers here and there.

"Good work, buddy," Krillin said, and they all started walking towards the strange path, apparently used to strange manifestations like this one.

Piccolo stopped, noticing Videl hesitating behind them. "Videl, everything you see is just a mental construct," Piccolo pointed to the floating strip of earth. "This path is a telepathic link to Gohan's mind, we need to walk across it if we want to reach him."

Krillin paused as well, smiling mischievously at the hesitating woman. "It's going to be alright, Videl, we're all perfectly safe. Just don't fall off or the shadow demons will get you."  
For a moment Videl almost fell for it, but then Piccolo frowned. "Enough with your jokes, Krillin, we don't have time for this, " said the tall Namekian and started walking again.

Krillin sighed and followed Piccolo. This time they were joined by a more determined Videl, who nevertheless looked into the void every once in a while just to make sure it was empty.

(Mental landscape, some time later)

The warriors crossed the narrow path in silence. After a while the blackness around them began to change, turning into a vast landscape of green grass and rocky hills. The cloudy skies were deep purple in color, dotted with shimmering, silvery moons.

"We're inside Gohan's thoughts right now," Piccolo explained to Videl as she looked around in wonder. The air was clean and fresh, and an occasional gentle breeze carried the smell of flowers.

"Yeah," began Goku "this looks really familiar."  
"It looks like the world of the Kais," said Vegeta, "but I don't recognize this area".

They all looked around for a few moments. "Hey," Krillin began and pointed at a tree ahead of them, "is it me or is that tree over there really huge?"

It took them a couple of moments to realize what they were looking at. The tree was not, in fact, a few hundred feet away. It was much farther than that, and much, much bigger than a normal tree.

"I can sense Gohan over there!" announced Goku in excitement. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" Tien said as Goku's aura flared. "Remember, this entire area is a mental creation. It represents something. Don't take anything at face value, what you see might be simply a memory, but it might also be a some aspect of Gohan that we're not aware of. Just... be careful."

"Tien is right," said Piccolo, nodding toward the three-eyed warrior and then looking around. "And another thing. Gohan's mind is very advanced, and this place is much more realistic than I have anticipated. It might actually be dangerous if a more aggressive aspect of Gohan appears. Don't assume you're safe just because you've been through image training before."

"Got it," said Krillin as they all started flying towards the massive tree, "time to get serious."


	8. Wrath of Great Saiyawoman

(Mental landscape, unknown time)

Under soft clouds and moon-studded purple sky, the group flew towards the gigantic tree. Soon the tree's true size became apparent.

"By Dende," exclaimed Krillin, "this thing is as big as a mountain!"

The massive trunk rose up like a cliff. The shadow cast by the gigantic tree's branches obscured the sky for almost a mile around the trunk itself, creating a strange, peaceful area of perpetual shadow.

While Videl, Tien and Krillin were caught off guard by the tree's size, Piccolo, Goku and Vegeta seemed to ignore it. Instead, they looked at a distant figure below them, between two hill-sized roots.

"Guys, I think that's Gohan," said Goku and started descending, followed by the others.

They landed between two great roots leading up to the trunk like the foothills of a mountain. In the center of the valley-like area sat a figure wearing a black cloak, with a hood pulled over his head.

"Hey, Gohan!" Goku called out while approaching his son. The figure didn't move or show any other kind of reaction.

Videl ran over to her husband, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Gohan, is everything alright? Please talk to me".

The figure turned to look at Videl and rose up in a smooth, fluid motion. After a moment he pulled down his hood, and they could see Gohan's face smiling at them with a strange expression. Videl could immediately tell something was wrong. Gohan's smile was peaceful but his eyes were distant, glancing at each member of the group without any sign of recognition.

"Err... Hey, Gohan," Krillin began, "what's up, buddy? Are you okay?"

"I am not Gohan," said the figure with a polite smile. "I am merely a shard."

Videl took a step back, clearly agitated. She looked at Goku and Piccolo. "Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my husband?"

"Listen, Gohan," Goku began, "we need you to relax and control your energy, at this rate you're going to burn away in a few minutes. Please wake up, okay?"

The figure looked at Goku and repeated, "I am not Gohan, I am merely a shard."

"Step back, fools," Vegeta said angrily and approached Gohan. "Wake up, you idiot! What do you think you're doing! Snap out of it already!"

The figure responded gently, not affected by Vegeta's outburst. "I cannot wake up, I am merely a..."

"Merely a shard, yes, how mysterious," interrupted Vegeta dryly. "Tell me, "shard", if you're not Gohan, is the real Gohan around here somewhere?"

The young man nodded. "Yes, he is." said the figure of Gohan. "There." He pointed in another direction.

The gathered warriors followed the young man's gesture. In the distance they could see pillars of smoke rising into the air. Now that their attention was drawn to the location, they could also hear distant rumbles and explosions. Goku and Vegeta's auras immediately flared and they began flying up, but Piccolo called them back.

"Wait! Remember, everything here is a mental projection. We need to know the meaning of this tree and this... shard." Piccolo turned to the cloaked figure, who looked up at the namekian with a serene expression.

"Why are you here?" asked Piccolo, "What do you want?"

"I am waiting for Gohan," said the figure. "When Gohan comes here, all will be well."

"I may have an explanation," Tien said after a few moments. "Maybe this place and this person symbolize peace and control. I think we need to bring Gohan here and literally help him find peace."

Krillin looked around and nodded in agreement. "This place does look very peaceful."

Vegeta grunted. "Great, so if there are no more objections, let's fly. Prepare yourselves."

The group rose up and flew towards the smoke pillars. As they traveled over the grassy hills and rocky growths, Videl noticed the others suddenly tense up. Their auras flared, and Krillin's usual peaceful expression became serious.

She flew closer to him and asked "What happened?"

Krillin smiled again. "Oh, you don't know. We just entered a... well, you could call it a "combat zone". It's the usual feeling you get when you're in image training with another fighter, like entering a tournament ring, you know? A place where battles happen."

"So we're about to fight?" asked a slightly confused Videl.

"Exactly," said Krillin. "It feels like Gohan is getting ready to fight us."

(Mental landscape, battle ruins, unknown time)

They flew closer to the smoke pillars, and now they could see the smoke was rising out of a deep, massive crater a few hundred feet across. The crater's sloped walls were littered with blasted buildings, cracked streets and destroyed cars, while the bottom was flat, black and completely barren. It looked like a massive bomb had gone off in the middle of a small town, reducing it to rubble.

In the center of the crater there were several figures, some flying and some on the ground. The figures were gathered around something that they couldn't see clearly.

"No, it can't be!" Vegeta shouted after a few moments of observation.

"Yeah, this looks bad..." replied Goku.

Videl stared at the scene, finally realizing what was happening below them. Gohan, in his Great Saiyaman costume without the helmet, lay in the middle of the crater. Around him were gathered several brutish figures, all of them opponents they have faced in the past.

Videl immediately recognized the hulking Spopovich, but didn't know who the other colorful figures were. The others could recognize Raditz, Nappa, the entire Ginyu force, Androids Twenty and Nineteen, and the looming, red-skinned Dabura. All of them were laughing and grunting wickedly as they kicked the fallen half-saiyan.

Above the group of villains hovered three menacing enemies surrounded by a deeper aura of evil, immediately recognizable as Freeza in his golden form, Cell in his perfect form, and the evil Majin Buu as he was after absorbing Piccolo and Gotenks.

Beyond them, on a relatively undamaged building near the crater's edge, stood Whis and Beerus. The god was leering at Gohan with a savage expression, while Whis was smiling passively. Both of them radiated evil ki, visible as black tendrils coiling and uncoiling in the air around them.

"Hey," Goku looked at Piccolo and Vegeta, "You guys aren't down there. I guess Gohan completely forgave both of you."

Piccolo nodded, not really expecting to see himself among Gohan's enemies, but Vegeta gave Goku an angry look. "As if I care! Do you plan to hover here forever, or do we attack?"

To their surprise, Videl was the first to respond. "Leave my husband alone, you bastards!" she shouted angrily and charged towards Gohan's prone form.

Vegeta frowned, muttering "upstaged by a weakling, terrific". He was about to fly after her, but Piccolo stopped him. "Wait, let's see how Videl does."

"Piccolo, you can't be serious!" said Krillin in shock, "she's going to get slaughtered!"

Piccolo smiled. "Just wait, I don't think we'll get a chance to see something like this ever again."

Krillin was about to disagree, but then noticed Vegeta, Goku and Tien hovering in midair and following Videl's progress without making a move. "Okay," he sighed, "if you say so".

From the crater's rim, Videl's reached the center in a fraction of a second. Her flying kick caught Spopovich by surprise, and the huge brute was flung across the ruined cityscape. His unconscious body hit the crater wall, the force of the blow burying him inside the blackened rocky surface and releasing a cloud of dust.

In the center of the crater, Videl's strike released a shock wave that staggered the villains gathered around Gohan, actually flinging Jeice and Guldo back. The two smaller warriors fell on their backs a few dozen feet away from Gohan, while the rest managed to resist the knock-back.

The shock wave caused the three villains flying above to rise even higher, but they seemed to be looking down at their earthbound allies with interest, remaining out of the fight.

Videl didn't seem to notice, but her regular outfit vanished as she charged, replaced by the tunic, cape and helmet of her Great Saiyawoman persona.

She stood protectively over the struggling Gohan. The other villains spread around her, leering, until she was completely surrounded.

"Videl!" shouted Krillin, "don't let Dabura hit you with his spit, and the androids can absorb energy through their hands!"

The short warrior could see Videl's helmeted head turn towards him and nod.

At that moment Nappa and Raditz charged toward Videl at full speed, while Androids 19 and 20 started firing a barrage of eye beams at the costumed heroine.

To Videl they all seemed to move in slow motion. Easily avoiding the energy attacks, she flew towards Raditz, grabbed him by the arm and threw him into a deadly volley of beams fired by Android 20.

While the large saiyan warrior was still flying through the air, his body scorched and singed, Nappa reached Videl and aimed a massive fist at her head. She ducked under Nappa's outstretched arm and leaped up, her raised knee connecting with Nappa's chin and causing the massive warrior's head to snap backwards.

The saiyans hit the ground, either unconscious or dead, and Dabura spit at Videl several times in rapid succession while summoning a massive sword into his right hand.

Instead of simply dodging the spit, Videl repeated her ealier feat. She launched herself toward Android 19, the rotund robot managing to target her with a quick energy attack.

She easily deflected the crackling org of energy upward, quickly appeared behind Nineteen and kicked him hard in the back. Nineteen found himself flying forward, out of control, towards Dabura and his deadly spit globules.

Meanwhile, Nineteen's deflected attack almost hit the hovering Cell, but he flicked it away with a smooth movement of his arm.

The large robot tried to stop himself, but everything was happening too fast and he simply didn't have enough time. Three separate spit globules hit the android as he flew towards the king of the demon realm, and the helpless Nineteen began to turn to stone. Dabura chose not to dodge the approaching robot, instead sending him into the air with a kick.

Android Twenty charged at Videl while his petrified companion was falling back to the ground. Videl easily avoided the old man's grapple attempt, grabbing his extended arms and holding both of them by the forearm.

The android tried to free his arms from Videl's hold and headbutt her, but he was too slow. With an angry shout and a mighty high kick, Videl launched Doctor Gero towards his falling creation while still maintaining her hold on Gero's forearms.

The android's arms shattered and broke at the elbow as he was flung away, totally out of control. The two mechanical warriors collided in midair, the force of Videl's kick causing Twenty to explode and completely vaporizing the petrified, falling Nineteen.

Videl was left holding Doctor Gero's severed limbs, both of them leaking oil and discharging bursts of electricity. She let them fall to the ground in disgust.

Only the Ginyu Force and Dabura were left, staring at her with faces twisted in hatred.

Meanwhile, the others watched the fight from their vantage point at the crater rim.

"Not bad," said Vegeta with a wicked smile.

"Err, what is happening?" asked a confused but fascinated Krillin. "How is Videl so strong suddenly?"

"This is Gohan's mind," said Piccolo, "Videl is more powerful in this place because of her importance to Gohan. The mental projections she's fighting now are much weaker than her. They also lost most of their personality, I remember them being much more talkative."

"Yeah," agreed Goku, "but those other guys might be a threat. And I don't understand why Beerus and Whis look like they're the biggest danger here." Thinking about what he just said, Goku added "Err... I mean... you know, they're strong but they're not bad guys."

Piccolo nodded, "yes, it's not really clear."

"Gohan is directing most of his anger at himself," added Tien, "but that might change when the other enemies get involved. We should be ready to act."

Back at the center of the crater, Videl glanced at her husband before looking back at her remaining opponents. "Gohan, are you alright? Please, you have to relax and control yourself. All of this isn't real."

Gohan grunted in pain and tried to stand up, apparently too hurt to continue fighting. He fell back to the ground as the members of the Ginyu force roared and attacked together.

Videl tried to leap up, but her body wouldn't respond. She was completely paralyzed in place, and could only watch as Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Ginyu came closer and closer. Behind them stood Guldo with his arms raised, trapping her in a field of psychic power. Despite all her efforts, she couldn't move a muscle.

Almost faster than she could see, the small alien psychic was cut in half by a disc-shaped energy attack flying in from the crater rim. The deadly disc continued flying into the ground, vanishing from sight. A deep rumble could be heard from below several moments later.

"I hate that guy so much," muttered Krillin as he lowered his arm. No way he was going to allow Guldo to hurt another friend of his, even if this was a mental simulation.

The paralysis passed with Guldo's destruction, and Videl managed to leap up just before the warriors reached her. She powered the largest energy blast she could manage and fired it at her four opponents below.

The fiery explosion engulfed the Ginyu force. It shook the entire crater, causing a massive shock wave and launching tons of rock into the air.

Before she could see the results of her attack, the purple-skinned Ginyu rose out of the dust and launched himself straight at her, headbutting Videl in the stomach and carrying both combatants up into the air.

Videl was dazed and out of breath for a moment, but recovered quickly. She grabbed Ginyu's horns and rotated in the air, throwing him back into the ground with all her might. Videl was left hovering in place, her hand held over her stomach.

The dust cleared after a few moments, and Videl could see the entire Ginyu force lying on the ground, burnt and broken.

Only Dabura was left. Videl landed slowly while maintaining eye contact with the tall, demonic warrior. Dabura brandished his blade and charged, moving much faster than the others.

As he advanced, the demon lord fired a quick blast from his left hand, the explosion causing a dust cloud to surround entire area. She couldn't see him at all. Flying out of the cloud would bring her too close to the other villains hovering above them, and she didn't want to risk that just yet.

Videl's head turned from side to side quickly, trying to locate Dabura before he could surprise her.

She sensed Dabura behind her a fraction of a second before he attacked, and dove forward. An incredibly fast shockwave sliced the air just above her head, cutting into the ground a feet away and raising a wall of dust and debris.

Supporting herself on the ground with one leg and one arm, Videl extended her other leg backwards in a smooth, powerful kick aimed at the much taller warrior. Dabura was caught off-guard, the kick connecting with his left shin and forcing him back into an awkward stance.

Videl jumped up and turned around while Dabura was still regaining his balance, immediately launching a furious barrage of kicks and punches. Despite being faster than the other warriors, Dabura was still slower than Videl and couldn't avoid most of her strikes.

He cried out as she repeatedly hit him in the stomach and chest. Roaring in pain, Dabura eventually regained enough composure to slash at her horizontally with his blade, but Videl jumped up to avoid the deadly weapon.

Videl landed on the huge blade, supporting herself with her left leg and raising the other, moving too fast for Dabura to register her counter-attack.

Shouting, Videl focused all of her strength into a lightning-fast kick, and a moment later her right leg connected with Dabura's neck with a loud CRACK. The king of the demon realm fell to the ground, lifeless.

As Dabura was falling, Videl jumped down from his descending sword and landed on the ground gracefully.

Suddenly realizing she was wearing her costume, Videl examined herself in surprise for a few moments and then knelt down to help Gohan. Before she could examine him, however, Freeza started laughing from above.

It was a shrill, condescending sound that carried throughout the crater. "How amusing," Freeza said with an smug grin as Videl looked up, "the monkey's mate has come to save him." He gestured to his two hovering companions, "my friends, shall we?"

Suddenly the entire crater shook, the light from the sky grew dimmer and the air became harder to breathe.

At the crater rim, the others turned to look at Piccolo. The namekian warrior was in distress, his eyes wide open, arms limp at his side.

"Piccolo!," Goku rushed to his friend's side, "what's wrong?"

"N... nothing..." grunted Piccolo in pain, "go, I don't think Videl can take those three bastards alone. I'll stay here and concentrate on maintaining contact with Gohan's mind."

Goku nodded and flew down towards Gohan and Videl, followed by Vegeta and Krillin.

"I'll stay here to help with the mental contact," said Tien as the others advanced.

Tien and Piccolo looked at each other. The three-eyed warrior knew that something was wrong with his friend. The namekian's energy was draining fast, and Tien himself had to take over most of the responsibility for maintaining the mental contact with Gohan. He was much weaker than Piccolo, though, and despite all his years of experience with telepathy Tien knew he didn't have enough power to do so for long.

"Something..." Piccolo began saying through clenched teeth, "something is wrong in the physical world. I'm suffering a lot of damage. Can... can you warn anyone without breaking contact with Gohan?"

"No," Tien shook his head, "maintaining the contact without you takes everything I have."

"Then we have to hope the others will take care of it," said Piccolo, "the only thing we can do is hang on for as long as possible."


	9. Rogue Sun

(The King's Office, afternoon)

The king's assistant hurried into the royal office just as the aging ruler was enjoying a fine cigar. It had been a strange day, and over the last hour the palace received reports of strange phenomena from all around the world. There was nothing he could do except order the military to increase alertness, and at stressful times like these he allowed himself the vice of a cigar despite his physician's warnings.

"My lord!" cried the assistant, "you have a very urgent call from the royal observatory!"

The king sighed, putting the cigar away for the moment. "Very well, pass it through."

The king sat down behind his desk and picked up the telephone. The person on the other side was clearly panicked, speaking loudly enough for the assistant the pick up a few words.

"sun... heat... radiation... gravity..." the voice went on and on for a few minutes, interrupted once in a while when the king asked for clarifications. Finally, the voice shouted "it's the end of the world!"

"I'll see what I can do, just stay calm. Your duty right now is to keep this to yourself. Goodbye," the king finished the call and leaned back in his chair. For a few moments he said nothing, simply staring into the air.

"My lord, what shall I do?" asked the frightened assistant.

"There's only one thing we can do," the king finally answered, "only one person in the entire world can help us now. Please, make the call and patch me through."

(Goku and Chi Chi's house, afternoon)

Goku's family and friends were gathered inside the house while the warriors meditated in Bulma's barbecue tent. Bulma and Eighteen were comforting the crying Chi Chi, who was sitting next to the round dinner table and hugging Goten close as if afraid to let him go.

Maron stood close to her mother, holding on to Eighteen's leg. Goten was trying to squirm away from Chi Chi's bear hug, but could not escape his mother's hold without hurting her. Eventually the child accepted his fate and joined the two women's efforts to make his mother stop crying.

Trunks, Mai, Pilaf and Shu were sitting quietly on the carpet in Goten's room. Pilaf was reading some kind of tech manual next to the napping Shu, while Trunks slowly gathered up the courage to take Mai's hand.

Roshi, Korin, Dende, Oolong and Yajirobe stood next to the open door of the house, looking outside and talking quietly to each other.

Buu and Mr. Satan were standing in another corner, Hercule holding Baby Pan's ribbon as the baby hovered above his head. Buu was contorting his face into impossible shapes, making the girl laugh.

Suddenly Mr. Satan's phone rang. "Excuse me, I have to take this," he said. Hercule gave Pan's Ribbon to Buu and went outside.

He returned a few minutes later, looking pale. "This is it, this is the end," he mumbled as entered, and fell to his knees.

Bulma, still holding Chi Chi's shoulder, turned to him and asked "What's wrong?"

"I just got a call from the king," answered Mr. Satan in a shaking voice. "He told me... he told me his scientists found a new sun in the sky, very close to Earth. It appeared suddenly a few minutes ago and it's getting hotter and hotter. It's already hotter than our own sun, and if nothing changes we're all going to burn away in a few minutes."

Goten's muffled voice came from inside Chi Chi's hug. "Oh no, that's Gohan! But the others are helping him!"

"Okay," Bulma said in a serious tone, processing the information. "let's think about this."

"What's there to think about?" asked a despairing Satan. "We're all going to burn up! How am I supposed to stop it! I only wanted to be a martial artist, where did it all go wrong!"

Eighteen smirked. "Oh please..."

Bulma ignored Satan's ramblings. "Okay, let's say Vegeta didn't push Gohan far enough and now he's putting out more and more heat from somewhere in space... hmm..."

Satan got up and ran over to Dende, who was looking at the others in disbelief after hearing the news.

"Dende, can you do something?" he asked the short Namekian deity, "What about the Dragon Balls?"

"I'm sorry," Dende shook his head. "I can't do anything to help against a threat like this. Unfortunately Gohan used the Dragon Balls just a few days ago, but even if he hadn't I doubt Shenron has enough power to withstand a calamity like this."

"We're doomed," Mr. Satan whispered, "we're doomed..."

"I have an idea!" Bulma said suddenly, making everyone jump. "Look, if I had enough time to prepare I could build a global force field to protect the planet, but there's no time."

She crossed her arms, deep in thought. "Sure, after this is done I could snag a nice defense contract from the king, but for now only one other person I know can make force fields..."

"My brother," Eighteen interrupted.

"Exactly!" Bulma smiled at the blond woman. "I bet he can make a force field strong enough, you two are much more powerful than you were when cell showed up. Let's go ask him, he should be watching over the others in the tent."

And so the gathered friends returned to the tent, noting the slightly increased temperature and the new, bright star shining in the sky.

Seventeen was standing a few steps away from the meditating warriors, his armed crossed. The android looked at the group while they entered the tent and raised an eyebrow, saying nothing.

"Hey, Seventeen," Bulma said, "there's trouble." She explained the situation and continued. "We need to to put up a force field around the earth, just above the atmosphere. Do you think you can do that for a few minutes?"

The normally stoic Seventeen opened his eyes in surprise, but went back to his usual expression of mild disinterest after only a moment.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can do it."

"Come on, young man," said Roshi as he came closer to the android. "I saw what you did in the tournament, your force field was enough to block Jiren's attack. Of course you can do it."

"I'm not being modest," Seventeen looked down at the old master. "Making a force field that big is not something I can do, especially for a long time. I'd need a lot more power."

"Wait," said Bulma. "What if you don't surround the entire earth, just the half that is facing Gohan? You know, like a giant umbrella?"

"I'm sorry," Seventeen shook his head, "I'd still need more power."

Bulma nodded and looked down, deep in thought once again. The others looked at each other helplessly while the blue-haired scientist concentrated.

Suddenly Pan laughed from her perch on top of Buu's head, pulling on the pink Majin's antenna. The sound made Bulma jump and stare at Buu for a few seconds.

"Of course!" she said excitedly. "This can work! Hey, Buu!"

Majin Buu stopped playing with Pan and looked at Bulma. "Yes?"

"Can you give Seventeen enough power to make a force field around the planet?"

Buu gave Pan's ribbon back to Satan, closed his eyes and started thinking. In fact, he concentrated so hard that his face went red and tiny bursts of smoke rose out of the holes on top of his head. Eventually his eyes opened and his face went back to its normal color. "No. Buu can't."

Bulma's turned pale. "Oh no... this was my last idea..."

"But he can give Buu his power," Buu continued, pointing at Seventeen.

"Excuse me?" asked the android. "What are you talking about?"

"Buu can..." Majin Buu struggled to find the word "ab... abs..."

"absorb?" asked Mr. Satan.

"Yes!" Buu jumped from leg to leg, happy to have his idea expressed. "Buu can do that. Then Buu will have his power and Buu's power, and Buu will be stronger. But Buu can't do it if he say no."

The others look at the android, waiting to hear what he had to say. "What do you think, Seventeen?", Bulma asked quietly, "As crazy as it sounds, will you let Buu absorb you?"

Seventeen's eyes were wide. His first instinct was to fly away, but he forced himself to stay in place. Eighteen left Maron with Roshi and approached her brother, standing protectively between him and Buu. "Don't you dare," she said coldly.

The temperature inside the tent seemed to plummet despite the rising heat outside.

"Come on, guys," said Bulma, "it won't be like before." She looked at Buu, "you can give him back after you're done, right?"

"Umm," Buu started thinking again. "Buu think so," he said after a few seconds.

"See?" Bulma turned to look at Seventeen and Eighteen. "It's a crazy situation but everything will turn out okay. It's not like you will be blocking all of Gohan's energy, only a tiny fraction of it is reaching us anyway. You should be perfectly fine."

"I don't think so," Eighteen said, "no one is absorbing either of us ever again."

Seventeen took a step forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, I'll do it."

The blond android looked back at her brother, surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, it'll be fine." Seventeen smiled at her and turned to Buu. "Go ahead, whenever you're ready."

Buu looked around at the others, then back at Seventeen. "Here no good," he shook his head, "too small, let's go outside."

Seventeen nodded, and both warriors left the tent. The others stood at the tent entrance to watch the process, feeling a mixture of fear and fascination.

Seventeen and Buu stood under the same tree where Gohan and the others performed the ritual. The wind died down completely, as if the world was holding its breath. Slowly, a pink blob the size of a large dog grew out of Buu's back, fell to the ground and started crawling towards Seventeen. The android followed its progress with his eyes wide open, until the thing stopped right next to him.

"Buu go?" asked the majin.

It took Seventeen a moment to realize that Buu was asking him if it was okay to proceed.

"Go ahead," whispered Seventeen, closing his eyes.

In a swift, smooth motion, the pink blob stretched up and to the sides, enveloped Seventeen and shrunk back to its original size. There was no struggle, no dramatic effort to escape, it happened in an instant. Eighteen turned her head away and hugged Maron close, thinking of her and her brother's fateful encounter with Cell.

The blob quickly crawled back and merged with Buu, making a strange, gooey sound. Buu's form became liquid, melting into an irregular column of pink mush. The column gushed and shifted for a few moments, and then slowly reformed. Majin Buu grew distinct legs, arms and a head, which then became thinner and more defined.

The entire process took only a few seconds, even if it seemed much longer to the people who witnessed it. When it was over, Majin Buu stood there in his new form. He was shorter than before and much thinner, almost as slender as Seventeen himself. His white pants reached his golden shoes now, hiding the black leggings. Strangely, he didn't wear a shirt or a coat at all, only a ribbon identifying him as a park ranger.

Buu's eyes, now clear blue in color, opened. He looked at the stunned people gathered at the tent entrance, and his aura flared around him. "Don't worry," Buu said in a clear, calm tone as started flying up. "Just make sure they fix this." He looked at Mr. Satan and nodded.

Before anyone could say anything, the newly transformed Buu flew up into the sky, vanishing from sight almost instantly.

Baby Pan broke the silence first. "Bah bah Buu!" she said, waving at the majin while hovering near Hercule.

Dende looked at the others and smiled. "I'm sure he can protect us now. His power is absolutely amazing, and that's without taking into account any artificial energy that I couldn't sense." Looking at Eighteen, he added "don't worry, even if Buu is somehow unable to release your brother, we could wait a year and wish him back with the dragon balls. Ordinarily Shenron wouldn't be strong enough to affect a being like Buu, but with Buu himself cooperating it will be an easy process. You can rest easy."

Eighteen nodded, relaxing a little.

(Upper atmosphere)

Majin Buu flew up, reaching the limits of Earth's atmosphere within seconds. He then stopped in place and hovered, lifting his arms. Above him appeared a circular sheet of glimmering, greenish energy about three feet in diameter, which started to expand rapidly.

The force field grew larger and larger, reaching across the world. Buu found it easy to continue even after covering half the planet, but chose not to do so. Seventeen knew a lot about the natural world, and something in Buu's new memories told him to stop there. Half the world was enough, like Bulma said.

Buu's thoughts were much clearer than before, much more focused. Coupled with his already immense levels of energy control, he could sense the magnitude of Gohan's rising power through the increasing load on his force field. If that was only a tiny fraction of the half-saiyan's full potential, what hope was there? At the rate Gohan was powering up, Buu estimated he could maintain the force field for less than ten minutes. A darker part of himself wished Gohan would burn away before everything Buu loved was destroyed.

Around the world, people in daylit areas noticed the sky turn slightly greener in color. Panicking, many ran to their television sets or radios, hoping to get more information.

Miles away from Buu, floating cross-legged in the upper atmosphere, hovered the meditating form of Piccolo. His clothes were almost completely burned away and his body was covered in burns. Without the protection offered by Earth's atmosphere, and with his guard down during the group's mental voyage, Gohan's power had damaged the namekian. But now he suddenly began to breathe easy again, no longer having to protect himself from the deadly energies released by his former student.


	10. The Way Back

(Mental landscape, battle ruins, fading contact)

Goku and Vegeta hovered above the blasted crater, in a flying standoff across from Freeza, Cell and Buu.

The light grew dimmer, and on the crater rim Tien fell to his knees, almost overcome by the effort of maintaining the group's telepathic contact with Gohan. Next to him lay Piccolo, barely conscious as the heat and radiation ravaged his physical body.

Below them, Videl and Krillin were propping Gohan up, supporting the fallen half-saiyan and trying to wake him up from his stupor.

"Gohan...", pleaded Videl, "wake up, please!"

Krillin looked at the darkening sky and turned to Videl. "Look, it's getting harder to see. I think Piccolo and Tien can't keep doing this for long. We need to get this big guy back to the tree as fast as we can."

"But why won't he wake up?" Videl asked the short warrior, "What's wrong with him?"

"To be honest I'm not really sure," Krillin answered. "I'm not an expert like Tien or Piccolo. I don't think this guy" Krillin tapped Gohan's back a few times, making the young man cough, "is really Gohan, you know? He's more like another aspect of Gohan, or something Gohan's mind made to represent a part of himself."

Krillin looked around, worried. "I think this entire place is Gohan, somehow. We can't talk to him directly, it probably won't help. We just need to bring this aspect of your husband back to the tree, then he'll probably be okay." Krillin frowned. "I hope so, at least."

"This is crazy," Videl sighed, shifting the weight of Gohan's unconscious body across her shoulders. "It's like some kind of therapy, only instead of going to see a shrink and paying thousands of zeni, you just pop into a person's mind, complete a few tasks and boom, problem solved?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Krillin smiled despite severity of the situation.

Now holding Gohan securely, the two started to fly out of the crater.

Meanwhile, Vegeta's patience was running out. "I've had enough of this," he muttered. Refusing to wait any longer, the saiyan prince transformed into his ultimate blue form and charged at Freeza in anger. The tyrant blocked Vegeta's extended arm with his own, the impact releasing a shock wave that shook the demolished buildings on the crater walls and almost caused Gohan to drop back to the ground. As a cloud of dust spread across the crater floor, Vegeta and Freeza began exchanging lightning-fast blows, flashing across the sky.

"Is that the best you can do, monkey?" Freeza smirked while blocking Vegeta's attacks. Vegeta frowned, refusing to answer the tyrant. "Damn fool" Vegeta thought, "if our mental contact was at full strength I'd destroy that smug bastard in an instant"

Goku's eyes shifted between Buu and Cell. The majin was looking at Gohan on the ground below, barely paying any attention to the hovering saiyan. Cell, however, smiled and charged. Goku blocked Cell's flying kick, but it was only an afterimage. The real Cell appeared above him and hit Goku's shoulder with a powerful spinning kick, releasing yet another immense shock wave. The saiyan was launched down, out of control, and crashed painfully into the ground.

"Cell can't be this powerful," thought Goku as he stood up, "Gohan isn't trying to make accurate images of him or the others, he's just lashing out. It's time to get serious."

Cell laughed. "Is that it, Goku? Is that all you have?" The saiyan looked at Videl and Krillin, who were flying slowly towards the crater rim while holding on to Gohan.

"Hey, guys," Goku shouted, "this is getting dangerous. Don't stop for anything, me and Vegeta will handle things here." The two warriors nodded at the saiyan.

"Handle things?" Cell smirked while hovering above his enemy, "How are you going to do that?"

Goku's answer came in the form a yell as he transformed into super saiyan blue.

A fraction of a second after Goku's transformation was complete Buu suddenly pointed his head-tentacle at the saiyan and fired a jagged beam, forcing him to dodge. This allowed Cell to fly down and flank Goku, striking him with a powerful kick to the ribs that Goku couldn't avoid. The saiyan was once again launched away, but managed to stop himself in midair.

While Goku and Vegeta were engaged with their opponents, Videl and Krillin reached the rim. They were just a few ruined buildings away from Tien and Piccolo when Beerus appeared before them with shocking speed.

The catlike god of destruction stood there calmly, his hands behind his back. "You're free to leave, earthlings," Beerus said, revealing sharp fangs in a savage smile, "but Gohan stays right here."

Krillin looked at Beerus defiantly while Videl spoke to Gohan again, hoping that her appeal would cause Gohan to come to his senses. "Gohan, come on, wake up already! It's us! What are you doing?!"

As the saiyans clashed with their enemies towards the center of the crater, Beerus frowned and seemed to hesitate. "Videl," Krillin whispered, "get Gohan back to the tree, I'll try to manage here." Videl nodded and started flying away, carrying Gohan with his arm around her shoulders.

Beerus snapped out of his reverie and was about to act, but Krillin acted first, unleashing a solar flare. A ridiculously bright flash of light stunned Beerus for a moment, forcing him to close his eyes. Krillin used that short period of time to charge a barrage of deadly ki discs, launching them at the god of destruction one after the other.

The discs hit their target, cutting deep into the god's skin before vanishing in a shower of bright sparks. Beerus screamed in pain, the piercing sound shaking the entire area and shocking everyone to their core. Krillin had to cover his ears as the sound went on and on.

"Oh no, I've made a huge mistake..." Krillin thought, "I didn't think I could actually hurt Beerus, but this version of him isn't as invulnerable as the real one. Am... am I stronger here, like Videl? My attacks still didn't cause any real damage, but I can feel Gohan's anger rising more and more."

Nearby, Tien almost fell over, barely holding on. "No... Gohan's rage is growing, it's getting more and more difficult to maintain the contact..." he murmured.

The sky grew even dimmer. The entire area was shrouded in shadows now, making it difficult to see. And it wasn't just a matter of simple darkness, Goku found that he was having trouble sensing the others' ki. "Vegeta!" Goku shouted, trying to be heard above Beerus' scream. "The contact is fading! We have to finish this now!" Even the sound of his voice was somewhat muted.

As the god's scream went on and Tien's hold on the telepathic contact weakened, the villains seemed to grow more powerful. Instead of replying to Goku's shout, Vegeta found himself fighting desperately against a reinvigorated Freeza.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" Freeza smirked as he assaulted the saiyan with a barrage of kicks, punches and tail strikes. "Not feeling well?"

"You fool!" Vegeta retorted angrily as he barely blocked a series of punches and ducked under a tail swipe. The prince calmed down a moment later, and murmured "I can't believe I'm actually talking to this apparition."

Freeza's face twisted in anger. "What was that?! Apparition?! You insolent monkey!" He turned around for another tail strike, and when Vegeta leaped up the tyrant followed with a powerful spinning kick. This time his kick connected with Vegeta's head, causing the saiyan prince to shout in pain and almost black out in midair. His aura flickered, almost going out.

Meanwhile, Goku was barely holding on against the combined attacks of Cell and Buu. It was getting more and more difficult to sense their positions, and all Goku could do was try to avoid their attacks and keep them busy for as long as possible.

"Stand still and fight!" shouted the frustrated Cell, his voice barely registering above Beerus' scream of pain.

"No thanks", said the saiyan as he dodged another of Buu's candy beams.

"Run as much as you want!" shouted Buu, "you'll weaken and then I'll eat you right up!"

Goku blocked a kick from Cell and let the impact carry him backwards before Buu continued. "What should I turn you into? Chocolate? A juicy steak?"

"Ooh..." replied Goku after dodging another series of strikes from Cell, "I could use a steak or five right about now".

Cell's face grew cold with anger at Goku's flippant attitude. Buu's rage actually made the majin's face go red. "I have had ENOUGH!" Buu shouted, aiming his tentacle at Goku and firing a massive candy beam.

"What are you doing, fool!" Cell shouted. Gero's monster was too close to the saiyan, and Buu's reckless attack threatened him as well as its intended target. Abusing his opponent's moment of distraction, Goku grabbed Cell's arm and maneuvered him into the beam's path. Cell managed to kick Goku in the stomach before the beam hit, and his face became frozen in rage as he began to transform.

"You know," Goku shouted at Buu while grimacing in pain and rubbing his hurt stomach, "this is why we always fight one on one!" Well, he thought to himself, it's mostly because one on one fights are better for getting stronger, but also this.

To Goku's disappointment, Cell turned into a large tablet of chocolate, and Buu charged at the wounded saiyan with an incoherent shout of rage.

While the saiyans were fighting and Krillin was drawing Beerus' attention, Videl flew towards the gigantic tree. At first she could still barely see it in the distance, but after a while it became too dark. A powerful wind began to blow, and flying became more and more difficult.

As the distance between them and the crater grew, the wind became stronger. "It's like it wants to keep me in that crater," thought Videl, "but I can't go back now." Mercifully, the roar of the wind masked that terrible scream.

Holding Gohan tight, she landed on the ground, leaned into the wind and began to walk forward. "Left, right, left, right", she muttered to herself as the storm's intensity continued to increase. Soon each step required her complete concentration, and the the last ray of light vanished behind her. At this point she could no longer see the sky above or the ground below, the darkness was complete.

Thinking about her years with Gohan and their laughing baby daughter, Videl strengthened her resolve and kept going, both of the couple's capes flapping wildly in the wind. "Left, right, left, right..."

Back in the crater, there was no wind and still enough light to see.

Suddenly Beerus stopped screaming and slowly lowered his eyes towards Krillin. Silence seemed to cover the entire area like a blanket. The god was bleeding from long gashes along his torso and his face was twisted in savage rage.

"Umm..." the short warrior stumbled back in fear. Faster than the Krillin could see, Beerus appeared in front of him and punched him in the gut.

Krillin was shocked by the sheer power of the attack. He was launched into the air, only to be met by a hovering Beerus a short distance away. Krillin couldn't even see the feline god move as Beerus kicked him in the back, striking from above and sending Krillin plummeting down. The former monk crashed into the ground with a massive explosion of earth and dust.

Still locked in combat with the evil Buu, Goku shouted "Hey, you okay down there?"

Krillin groaned in pain as he tried to sit up, but didn't have time to answer. Beerus was hovering above him with an evil smile. The god of destruction raised one knee up to his chest, stretched his other leg heel-first towards Krillin, and charged down at the stunned earthling with a world-splitting kick.

Krillin closed his eyes, concentrated, and hoped he was quick enough. Deciding that enough was enough, he imagined severing his mental contact with the group like cutting a string with a pair of scissors. "wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!"

Beerus hit the ground with a deep thunder, sending cracks deep underground and causing the area to shake violently. The entire crater floor vanished in the aftermath of the strike, replaced with an apparently bottomless pit. A few buildings on the lower edges of the crater walls crumbled and fell into the abyss.

(Goku and Chi Chi's house, early afternoon)

Krillin woke up with a shudder and looked around him. He was still sitting in Bulma's tent along with the others. Turning towards the entrance of the tent, he saw the people gathered there talking in hushed voice. Eighteen noticed Krillin snap out of the meditative trance and immediately approached him with Maron.

"Hey pumpkin," Krillin hugged his daughter. Maron buried her face into Krillin's chest, clearly agitated. He looked at Eighteen questioningly. "Did anything happen?"

Eighteen took one look at Krillin's face, turned away and began to walk toward Dende. The confused Krillin touched the side of his face where Eighteen was looking, then grimaced. His fingers came away bloody. "Bleeding from the ear... that can't be good," he muttered to himself.

The businesslike Eighteen picked Dende up, brought the surprised god of Earth over to Krillin and put him back down on the ground. "Please heal my husband," she said coldly.

"Your form of prayer is unconventional," smiled Dende, "but I'll grant your request." He moved to stand behind Krillin and laid both of his hands on top of the former monk's head. Krillin immediately began to feel better.

"Thanks, Dende," said the smiling Krillin. The small namekian removed his hands after a few moments, stood back and nodded.

Satisfied that her husband wasn't about to die, Eighteen asked "did you manage to calm Gohan down?" The others came closer to the group of meditating fighters, hoping to hear some good news.

"Sorry," said Krillin apologetically, "not yet. I had to bail out, Gohan wasn't holding anything back." Looking around, he asked "What happened here?"

Eighteen looked down as Bulma put a hand on her shoulder. "It was Seventeen," said Bulma, "he saved the world."

(Mental landscape, battle ruins, unknown time)

The shock from Beerus' strike almost caused Tien to black out completely. The crater grew darker and sounds became even more muted as the group's telepathic contact with Gohan was almost severed.

Suddenly, Tien felt Piccolo's arm on his shoulder. The Namekian stood up, somehow revived.

"I'll take over," said Piccolo, "you did good."

Tien nodded, barely conscious. He felt Piccolo's power flow into the telepathic contact, bringing it back to full strength. Tien stood up, brushed the dust from his robes and crossed his arms. After a few deep breaths, he resumed his efforts at a much more comfortable level. Piccolo wasn't at full strength, but what strength he had left was more than enough.

"Good to have you back," Tien nodded at the tall namekian, still somewhat shaken. "Is everything alright?"

"I don't know," answered Piccolo, "I'm not taking damage anymore, so the others must have done something to fix things."

The light and sound returned as the mental contact grew more stable. Goku and Vegeta felt much better despite their wounds, taking deep, satisfying breaths of fresh air.

Videl was completely focused on moving forward, and had no idea how much time had passed in the dark, wind-swept dreamscape, or if she made any progress towards the massive tree. She stumbled when the light returned and the storm subsided, no longer having to lean forward into the wind.

Videl could see the tree now, still far away. Groaning in disappointment but determined to reach her goal, Videl flew up and sped forward.

Goku could see Beerus turn his attention away from the crater and toward the escaping Videl and Gohan. "Vegeta!" he shouted, "handle Buu, I'll take Beerus!" Goku kicked Buu in the chest, hurling him down almost to ground level, and began to fly away.

At that very moment, Freeza's kick caught Vegeta in the chin, sending him flying up. Reeling in pain, the prince manage to come to his senses and dodge Freeza's followup attack, a beam of deadly energy. Now that their telepathic contact was back to full strength, Vegeta's reaction speed was also increased. In his eyes Freeza and Majin Buu were moving in slow motion.

Vegeta began to answer Goku's request, but the other saiyan had already turned away. "Ordering me around as if I'm one of his sons..." Vegeta muttered to himself in annoyance, but chose to channel that feeling into his next attack.

The prince's aura flared back to its full power as he charged towards his opponent. Vegeta launched a ki blast at Freeza while charging, forcing the surprised Freeza to block the attack. Vegeta flew behind the distracted tyrant and grabbed his tail. Faster than Freeza could react, Vegeta spun him around and launched him down towards Buu at an incredible speed.

The two villains collided with a sickening crunch that made Vegeta smile, Freeza's momentum carrying both him and Buu towards the ground. If the crater floor was still there they would have hit it, but instead they simply fell down the massive pit until the angry Buu pushed Freeza away.  
Vegeta looked down at his two hovering opponents and spread his arms to the sides, gathering his ki.

The majin, who had the form of Buu as he was after absorbing Piccolo and Gotenks, reacted first. "Freeza! Prepare to counter his attack! Fire back!" Buu shouted. The pink majin extended his arms forward to prepare his own blast.

"Don't presume to order me around, fool!" shouted Freeza, but extended his arm as well.

Vegeta brought his arms together in front of him, a massive ki blast growing between his palms. "FINAL FLASH!" he shouted, and launched a colossal beam of fiery ki towards the two villains.

With a roar, Buu and Freeza released their own energy beams at the saiyan prince. The three blasts collided in midair just above ground level, forming a turbulent vortex of energy. As the two beams from below struggled to overcome the beam from above, all three combatants started to pour more and more energy into their attack.

Tien and Piccolo watched as the vortex started to grow. When it reached the rim of the pit created by Beerus' kick, the raging energies began to destroy the rest of the crater, consuming more and more ground as the vortex expanded. Eventually the two were forced to fly up, the vortex having consumed the entire crater in a storm of ki. Vegeta retreated up into the air as his opponents descended farther down into the pit.

After a while the saiyan's power began to overwhelm Buu and Freeza. The vortex of ki stopped expanding, having already consumed the crater and some of the surrounding area, and the massive, raging sphere of battling energies began to move down. With a final roar, Vegeta pushed the sphere deeper into the earth, launching it away at great speed. He couldn't see it, but he clearly felt Buu and Freeza engulfed by the massive blast, their auras sputtering, failing and vanishing completely. The gigantic ki sphere continued down, burrowing into the earth until it disappeared. There was no explosion.

The crater was gone, replaced by a bottomless pit almost a mile across. Tien and Piccolo hovered above its edges and looked down into the darkness. "Interesting", said Tien, "It must have reached the limits of this mental landscape and vanished."

Vegeta joined them, and the three warriors flew away to team up with Goku.

They failed to notice the hovering form of Whis some distance away. The angel landed on a nearby rock and sat down. He removed another boxed meal from his storage space, opened it and continued to eat in small, measured bites.

Vegeta, Tien and Piccolo caught up with Goku and Beerus a few miles away. Beerus was holding Goku up by the neck and punching the saiyan in the stomach repeatedly, the tendrils of evil ki surrounding Beerus writhing with every punch. Goku was back in his base form, barely conscious and with a broken left arm.

"Vegeta..." Goku said weakly, "don't..."

Beerus turned his head to look at Vegeta and threw Goku down. Tien flew after him as fast as he could, catching the saiyan before he hit the ground. Tien laid Goku on the ground gently and flew back up.

Beerus suddenly appeared behind Vegeta and slammed the side of his palm against the back of Vegeta's neck. There was no warning, Vegeta didn't even see him move. The saiyan was hurled down, half-paralyzed with pain, but rotated around and began to charge a ki blast in a purely instinctive motion.

Suddenly he stopped in midair and dispersed the blast, understanding Goku's words. In the brief instant of contact with Beerus, he felt Gohan's rage exploding against his mind. This Beerus was, for all intents and purposes, Gohan's unconscious mind. Every attack against Beerus not only made Gohan angrier, it also damaged his mind even further and probably made him burn up faster.

"Great," he growled. "I'll just have to draw this overpowered lunatic's attention while his mate saves us all." Vegeta's aura decreased in intensity as he concentrated his divine ki inside his body, strengthening his skin and bones as much as he could. To the others it looked as if tiny bursts of lightning danced across Vegeta's skin.

Beerus attacked Vegeta relentlessly, appearing and disappearing around him, launching a flurry of kicks and punches that the saiyan could barely see. He blocked what he could, but dodging was out of the question and most of Beerus' strikes went past his defenses. Vegeta seemed to be hovering in midair, growing more and more wounded and tired as a series of shock waves surrounded him.

Suddenly Vegeta roared in pain as a particularly savage kick broke his leg. His concentration completely broken by the assault, Vegeta's aura sputtered and the prince went back to his base form. The deranged Beerus held Vegeta upside down by his broken leg and bared his fangs. Moments later he started punching Vegeta in the lower back, each punch releasing a shock wave and causing the prince to heave in pain.

Tien was about to charge in when he felt Piccolo's arm on his shoulder. "Stop, we have to maintain the contact no matter what." Piccolo's arm went back to his side. "Vegeta knows this, we all have our roles to play." Tien nodded, still angry, and remained hovering next to the namekian.

"Had... your... fun... Gohan?" Vegeta said, his teeth clenched in pain.

Beerus considered his words for a moment, tilting his head to the side. Suddenly he threw Vegeta towards Tien and Piccolo, and Tien caught the battered saiyan in his arms.

"You let them all die," Beerus said, his voice full of hate. "You let them all die, and now you'll join them." Beerus raised his arm and pointed towards the three warriors, gathering a small orb of red, fiery ki just beyond the point of his extended talon.

"Wait!" Tien shouted, "Who? Who died?" He looked around, addressing Gohan's mind and hoping that the young half-saiyan could somehow hear them. "Talk to us, we're your friends!"

"Everyone," said Beerus, and the crackling red orb grew to the size of a house. Tien, Piccolo and Vegeta could see their death in the red ki.

At the last moment, just before Beerus fired the attack, the red ki dispersed. The catlike god's arms dropped to his side, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he started falling down. A cool breeze began to blow, carrying the scent of flowers.

Far out in the distance, Videl and Gohan had finally reached the tree.


	11. Shard

(Goku and Chi Chi's house, afternoon)

Inside the tent, the meditating warriors all woke up at once. Videl rose to her feet and immediately ran to her daughter, while Goku, Vegeta and Tien reacted more slowly, clearly in pain. The watchful Dende began healing them, starting with Tien.

Chi Chi and Goten surrounded Goku, their hugs almost forcing the laughing saiyan back to the ground. "Everything's alright now, guys. I can feel Gohan sleeping peacefully out there, he stopped powering up."

Bulma approached Vegeta and waved her finger at him. "Next time you decide to push a living bomb out into space, make sure you do it right!" Reacting to Vegeta's puzzled frown, she quickly explained what happened while they were meditating. Moments later she was joined by Trunks, who left Goten's room inside the house and came over to the tent along with Mai, Shu and Pilaf.

Chaotzu hovered next to Tien while he was being healed by Dende. "Tien! Are you alright?"

Tien smiled at his friend. "Just perfect now. Thanks, Dende."

Dende nodded. "Happy to help. But how is Gohan?

"I don't know exactly," Tien said. "The mental contact was severed, that probably means Gohan got back in control and forced us out." He reached out with his ki sense, locating Piccolo high above them. "Strange, it looks like Piccolo is right next to... is that Buu?"

Goku, Vegeta and Tien looked up suddenly. "The namekian's energy is dropping, but slowly" said Vegeta, "is he fighting Buu?"

"Let's go see," said Goku, "I don't think they're fighting." Now healed, Goku exited the tent rose into the air. "Be right back, everyone!" Vegeta, Tien and Krillin followed Goku, and the four vanished from sight. A few moments later the robotic version of Goku flew up after them, ordered to do so by Bulma.

(Upper atmosphere)

Majin Buu's global barrier was beginning to crack. Gohan's power was increasing steadily, and the load on Buu's force field increased along with it. Down below, people who were looking anxiously at the green sky could see jagged scars spreading across the horizon.

Then Buu sensed Piccolo regaining consciousness below him, and followed the namekian's path as he came closer.

The curious Piccolo reached Buu after a few moments of flight. "Buu?" Piccolo was stunned by Buu's new form. "Is that you? What happened?"

"Gohan's power increased too much." Buu kept looking out into space as he answered. "I had to absorb Seventeen so I could use his barrier to protect the planet."

"I... I see." The namekian was caught off guard by Buu's new way of speaking. "Do you need help? I can see your barrier beginning to fail."

"Sure, I could use more energy."

"Very well. Here." Piccolo extended his arm toward the slender majin and began transferring his energy, causing a softly glowing beam of light to appear between the two. "It should be fine in a few minutes anyway, Gohan is still unconscious but back in control. We just need to deflect the energy he already released."

Soon after they were joined by Goku, Vegeta, Tien and Krillin. Initially surprised by Buu's new appearance, they quickly joined Piccolo in transferring their ki to the majin. The cracks in Buu's barrier became smaller and smaller, eventually vanishing completely. A few minutes later the last vestiges of Gohan's fury were spent, and the danger to Earth had passed.

(The King's office, afternoon)

The king and his assistant were waiting to hear from the royal observatory, the young man pacing nervously while the much older king relaxed in his comfortable chair.

The king was just about to note that they were still alive, so the assistant could relax a little and stop that annoying pacing, but then the telephone rang.

The king immediately picked up the phone. "Yes? Yes... I see... Oh, that's a shame. Well, thank you, please send me a detailed incident report by tomorrow. Goodbye." He ended the call, leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"My lord?" asked the frightened assistant after a few moments.

"Yes? Oh. Everything is fine now. We lost contact with half of our satellites out in space, but the temperatures are dropping back to normal and it looks like that new sun vanished."

The assistant breathed out in relief, and a few moments later the king continued. "You know, I had my doubts about Mr. Satan. He's always so bombastic, and he makes so much money it's difficult not to be at least a little bit suspicious. But all that is in the past, consider me a true believer now."

The king stood up, walked to the office window and looked out at the capital city. "The man is clearly the greatest hero in Earth's history. I should never have doubted him."

(Mental landscape, unknown time)

Gohan found himself standing in a strange place. Above him towered a gigantic tree, casting its shadow on the entire area. Gohan stood between two massive roots that led to the main trunk, and a hooded figure sat a short distance away from him.

"Am... am I dreaming?" Gohan thought to himself, "this looks like supreme kai's planet, but I have never seen this tree."

"Err... hello?" Gohan addressed the hooded figure, who didn't answer. Gohan sighed and started walking closer. When he was just a few feet away, the figure took down its hood and stood up, looking at Gohan with a serene expression.

Gohan took a step back, completely surprised. "You... you're me?!"

The other shook his head. "No, I am merely a shard."

"A shard?" asked the confused Gohan. "Can you tell me what is going on?"

"Of course," the other answered calmly and nodded, "you need only ask. I will tell you everything I know."

"Okay," said Gohan. "Let's start with the obvious, who are you?"

"I..." the other stopped speaking and tilted his head. "My name is long forgotten. I am... I was... the master tender of the kaiju grove," he raised his left hand and pointed up, "the divine trees of which all gods are born."

"The kaiju grove..." Gohan murmured, "I remember studying legends about divine trees. Why would I be dreaming about them now?"

"This is not a dream, young one," the figure stated calmly.

Gohan sighed. He concentrated and tried to wake up, but nothing happened. "Huh, this usually works when I know I'm dreaming."

"We are both inside your mind, in a deeply locked facet of your consciousness, but I assure you this is no dream."

Gohan had no choice but to humor his strange twin, at least for the moment. "Alright, let's see where this goes. So why are you here, exactly?"

"I am here because you have awakened me. Until now I was merely a shard of consciousness embedded deep within you, but your recent actions caused me to stir from my slumber."

The surprised Gohan continued with his questions. "Embedded? When did this embedding happen?"

"It happened long before you were born. You see, a long time ago I decided to leave my post in the high realms and live my life as a mortal. I had sons and daughters, grew old and eventually died, but each of my descendants carried a tiny shard of me inside them."

"Why would a god do something like that?" Gohan asked, curious. Even if this was a dream, it was still a pretty good story. He was proud that his subconscious mind could come up with something as complex as this.

The figure remained silent for a few moments, and for the first time his expression changed from serene to serious. "Long before my time, the god of destruction had gone insane. He routinely slaughtered innocent mortals by the billions, without giving it a second thought. The grand supreme kai at the time was powerless to stop him, and the rest of the supreme kais didn't consider it a problem. I had no way to affect the actions of the gods, for even a master tender is lower in rank than one of the kais."

The stranger stopped for a few moments, as if gathering his thoughts. "And then everything changed. During one of the destroyer's long sleeping spells, a new threat arose. The wizard Bibidy created Majin Buu, a terrifying creature that threatened all of creation, even the gods themselves."

His tone became angry and bitter. "Dozens of my own people, the shinjin, were murdered by the brutish monster, but the supreme kais chose to interfere only when it began threatening them. One by one they were destroyed, even the grand supreme kai himself, until the last of them managed to seal the beast away. I... my grief overpowered me, and dark thoughts began clouding my mind. The serenity of the divine grove could not drive those thoughts away, until eventually I came to the realization that something must change. Things cannot go on as they did. The gods... we... we failed the lower realms. We were supposed to create and guide, but we didn't. We just existed, we engaged in all sorts of games and amused ourselves with competitions and tournaments. Even I was guilty of this, as I spent so many years researching the kaiju trees when I could have done more. The supreme kais were barely able to stop a mortal wizard, and they didn't even consider opposing Beerus himself."

"Wait," asked Gohan "that insane god of destruction you were talking about, his name was Beerus?" This information mirrored his own opinion about the catlike god, but it was still surprising to see it expressed by another.

"Yes," replied the stranger, "the same god of destruction you have encountered."

"Okay, so what happened next?"

The stranger lowered his eyes. "I... I did something shameful. You see, I am one of the shinjin, the race of gods who oversee the universe. When one of us dies, even a kai or a supreme kai, his soul eventually returns to the kaiju trees and is reborn out of the tree fruits. Most fruits are red, giving birth to common shinjin like I was. Kais, like the North Kai who trained your father and friends, are shinjin who were chosen for the position. It is the highest rank a normal shinjin can achieve. But very rarely a golden fruit appears, and out of those fruits are born the supreme kais themselves, the most powerful and exalted members of our race."

Gohan reflected on how much this story drew from the ancient legends of various cultures. It was as if his unconscious mind decided to pick various elements of legend and construct a new one that was a mixture of them all. "This is pretty elaborate for a dream," he said.

The other sighed. "I told you, this is not a dream."

"I'm sorry," Gohan said, "please continue." The fact that he was dreaming didn't allow him to be impolite to people.

The other nodded. "Very well. It was then that I decided to steal all the golden kaiju fruits. I took them and escaped to the lower realms, and no one noticed. My people were so oblivious, so deeply ensnared by their habits and petty issues, that they never even noticed the fruits were gone."

Gohan was confused. "Wait, why did you take the golden fruits? How would new supreme kais be born?"

"They wouldn't," said the stranger, his voice now cold and determined. "The cycle of reincarnation and chaotic destruction had to stop, and I decided that the only way to do that was to infuse the races of mortals with a sliver of divine power. If my plan worked, the combination of divine power and mortal drive would eventually produce beings able to resist even Beerus. Using my knowledge of the trees, I absorbed the power from the fruits, renounced my divinity and became fully mortal. I then implanted a shard of myself into the essence that I passed on to my children."

"Your DNA..." murmured Gohan.

"Dee-en-aay?" asked the figure. "Ah, that is how your scholars refer to the physical aspect of the essence. Since I chose a planet in the north galaxy as my new home, my children eventually spread across that galaxy. Over time, many of the races there became more powerful, and more similar to the shinjin. Not all, of course, some were too alien, but some of them did."

"Well, this story sounds completely crazy, but it answers two question," said Gohan. "I always wondered why all of the most powerful beings in the universe seemed to live in the north galaxy. And another puzzle was why saiyans and humans could even reproduce. Turns out it's because they have a common ancestor."

The stranger nodded. "Saiyans are magnificent creatures, with their immense power and potential for improvement. However, they are stunted by their savage nature and craving for battle. Humans, on the other hand, are capable of great acts of heroism while lacking in power." He paused for a few moments. "Do you believe me now, Gohan?"

"I still have a few questions." Gohan's tone grew more serious. "Did you manipulate people behind the scenes all these years? Did my choices actually matter, or was it you the entire time?"

The nameless stranger shook his head. "No, I didn't manipulate anyone. The shards of my consciousness were set to awaken under certain conditions, and before my awakening I was just a few bits of dormant essence. Your actions and your choices were your own, always. This applies to your father, your friends and all other mortals who carry my shard. The very idea of manipulating mortals that way is abhorrent to all shinjin."

"But wasn't your plan another form of manipulating mortals?"

"Yes, it was," the stranger answered in sad tone. "I chose to sacrifice my divine status and become a mortal myself just to enact this plan. Our unwillingness to interfere with mortals is part of the reason for all the senseless death and destruction in the universe. I had to do something, but I didn't want to openly interfere and... direct mental control was out of the question." Gohan's nameless twin shuddered as he said the words "direct mental control", and continued. "I did what I did, hoping that one day a mortal would rise to challenge the gods before everything was destroyed."

Gohan processed all this, no longer confident that this was a dream. "You said there were conditions," he said after a few moments. "What were they?"

"The first condition is power," answered the stranger. "The mortal had to be powerful enough to challenge Beerus. Not necessarily more powerful, but on a similar level."

"What about dad and Vegeta, then?" asked Gohan.

"This brings me to the second condition, which is intent. The mortal had to be driven by a need to protect innocents and prevent injustice. Your father and Vegeta are driven by a lust for battle that few in the universe possess, and their drive to protect is mostly limited to their own loved ones. No, I hoped for a mortal who would feel the injustice deep in his or her heart, and would be driven to act to prevent it."

Gohan remained silent. The stranger looked at the half-saiyan in silence while Gohan considered his next words.

"What happens now?" he asked after a long while. "What does this revelation change?"

The stranger smiled. "Nothing changes as far as your plan is concerned, your mind is still your own and your body remains that a of saiyan-human hybrid. Your soul, however, or spirit, is now that of a supreme kai."

Gohan's eyes opened in surprise. "What? What does that mean, exactly?"

"Your spiritual ascension doesn't affect your strength or any physical aspects of your being. However, you now possess the status and authority of the supreme kais slain by Majin Buu, and the intrinsic power to oppose destruction. When your ascension is complete, you will gain the power of creation."

Gohan took a few steps back and shook his head. "This is getting too wild. I'm really sorry, but I'm pretty sure this is a dream. How do I wake up?"

The stranger sighed again, but looked at Gohan and smiled. "If this is a dream then you have nothing to worry about, don't you? Just continue on your path. And if you find a new power that you have trouble controlling, look for a kai or a supreme kai to train you."

The shadows under the tree became deeper, as if night was falling. It became harder and harder to see, and the stranger's voice became muted and distant.

"The dream is over?" Gohan asked while looking around at the fading scenery. "Wait! What about you? I have so many questions!"

The stranger slowly faded from sight, his voice reduced to a whisper. "I'm sorry, Gohan, my time is over. I did all I could, and my consciousness is fading into your soul along with the essence of the golden fruits. The responsibility is now yours, not because I passed it to you, but because you chose to make it your destiny on your own."

With a final, barely audible "farewell," the nameless stranger vanished and everything went dark.

(Earth, upper atmosphere)

The danger was over. Majin Buu no longer felt any load on his barriers, and slowly lowered his arms. The barrier began contracting again, growing smaller and smaller until it became a small sheet of energy just above Buu's head, and then vanished completely.

At the same moment, before anyone could say anything, Goku and Vegeta looked up in surprise.

"Kakarot, what is that?" Vegeta asked. He felt Gohan's ki change in a strange way, as if he was a completely different person. He could still recognize Gohan somehow, but the sensation was both bizarre and familiar.

"Huh?" Krillin interfered, "What's wrong?"

"Err, I don't know," Goku answered while scratching the back of his head. "I should go see if Gohan is alright." Goku changed into his blue form, took a few deep breaths, closed his mouth and vanished.

(Deep space)

Goku appeared in the void, surrounded by the faraway stars. His flaming blue aura protected him from the hazards of deep space, but his air supply was limited. He could stay here only for a few minutes.

Gohan was hurtling through space at an incredible speed, but much slower than the initial speed of Vegeta's telekinetic push. After a few seconds of adjusting his own velocity and trajectory, Goku managed to match Gohan's path and approach his son.

He could see Gohan stirring in his sleep, about to wake up. The young man must have transformed while in his enraged state, then transformed back. His aura was fading slowly, but it was still visible for a few moments – and Goku was shocked to see it was no longer Gohan's usual aura of white ki, nor one of the usual colors of a super saiyan aura.

Gohan's vanishing aura was a deep shade of pink closer to his body, fading into a dark red outline. It was the same aura that surrounded Goku Black, the mark of Super Saiyan Rosé.


	12. Power Up

(Deep space)

Goku stared at his son for a short while after Gohan's new aura faded. Gohan felt different and yet the same, it was a new and unfamiliar sensation that made Goku worry. He could transport them both to Earth right now, but Goku decided to wait for Gohan to wake up, just to be safe.

Gohan's eyes opened a short while later. The sensation of surviving in space was very strange – the cold and radiation felt like a slightly tingling cloth rubbing against his skin, and his lungs seemed to expand and contract normally despite the lack of atmosphere. In addition to that, his ki sense was greatly increased, even more than the initial boost after the god ritual. He could feel the large concentration of mortal life on the distant Earth, with Vegeta, Buu, Piccolo, Trunks, Goten and even his baby daughter showing up as beacons of powerful light in an ocean of candles.

His senses extended further than the solar system, much further. He could feel the weight of the empty, endless void that surrounded him, with tiny pinpricks of mortal life flickering in the darkness as if they were about to go out. He could instantly feel Freeza far away in space, his oppressively powerful aura making it difficult to sense other life forms nearby. Even farther away than Freeza, Gohan could sense the slumbering God of Destruction and his angel, two unimaginably powerful auras obscured by the distance.

Only then he realized his father was nearby, hovering there in his blue form. No, not hovering, they were both moving through the void at great speeds, but relative to each other they seemed to be stationary. Goku had repressed his aura until now, probably letting Gohan stretch his new senses, but it was time to go back home.

"Are you alright now?" asked the saiyan telepathically, looking worried.

"Yeah, dad," smiled Gohan. "This is amazing. Is this how you look at things all the time? I never realized..."

"Yeah," Goku smiled and nodded, "It can be pretty overwhelming at first. When I transformed for the first time I had to focus on Beerus, so I didn't have time to enjoy it at all."

Gohan looked around again. "How did I get here?"

"It's a long story. How about we go back home and I'll tell you all about it?"

Father and Son both looked at each other for a few moments. Gohan never realized exactly how powerful Goku was, but now he could see it clearly. Once he sensed it, his father's repressed power stunned him. Lurking beneath the surface of Goku's smile were a million burning suns, waiting to be tapped.

"Uh... Gohan? Why are you staring at me?" transmitted Goku.

"Oh?" Gohan snapped out of his trance and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, dad, I'm really not used to this thing yet."

"Well, enjoy it while you can," Goku said, "you'll get used to it really soon and then it will just feel normal."

"That makes sense."

"Anyway, before I run out of air, you ready to go back?"

"Sure, dad."

Goku approached Gohan and raised two fingers to his forehead, but to his surprise Gohan flew back, avoiding him.

"What's wrong?" asked Goku. "I was going to bring us both back home."

Gohan smiled. "How about we make it a race?"

"Wait," transmitted the confused Goku, "you want to race instant transmission?"

"Sure."

"Heh, alright", Goku smiled back at his son and nodded. His arm dropped back to his side. "Whoever gets to the door of the house first is the winner. We go on three."

Gohan nodded and began stretching his limbs as his father counted.

"One, two, THREE!"

Gohan vanished. Goku could sense him flying through space towards Earth, but his speed was so ridiculously high that it momentarily surprised the older saiyan. After a fraction of a second he came back to his senses, concentrated and vanished as well.

(Goku and Chi Chi's house, afternoon)

Goku and Gohan appeared outside Goku's house, accompanied by the sound of instant transmission and a distant thunder. As the others came to meet them, they could see Goku laughing and tapping Gohan's back. The younger man looked disappointed for a few moments, but then smiled when he saw Videl running towards him with baby Pan.

Gohan reached Earth even before the surprised Goku had time to concentrate on his technique, but like Shenron said, once he reached Earth's atmosphere his flight speed returned to normal. It took him less than a second to reach his father's house from the upper atmosphere, but that was enough time for Goku to make it back before him.

After a long session of hugs, kisses and congratulations, it took Gohan and the others almost two hours to go over everything that happened during the ritual. Gohan didn't tell anyone about his encounter with the nameless entity, still thinking it might have been a dream. Goku didn't say a word about Gohan's distressing aura, sensing that his son's mind was unchanged and not really wanting to make everyone worried. The saiyan still intended to find out what happened, but it could wait for later.

During those two hours Hercule began getting a lot of phone calls, and eventually he muted his phone in embarrassment. Goten and Trunks, who took a break from the boring conversation of the adults to watch some TV, returned to the gathering and began to pester Hercule about being "Earth's greatest hero" and "mightier than a rogue sun" like they called him on the news. To get them to stop, the utterly embarrassed champion had to bribe the two with several all-day tickets to one of the theme parks he was sponsoring.

Eventually the attention turned to Majin Buu, and Mr. Satan asked if Buu can let Seventeen go. Buu shrugged and went outside, saying "I don't know, let's try."

The sun had begun to set and the cloudless sky started getting dark. Buu stood under the same tree as before and concentrated while the others watched. Eventually his form began to shift, his features became indistinct and his entire body turned into a shapeless pillar of pink mush. A large pink blob grew out of the pillar, plopped down to the ground and began to crawl away.

After reaching a certain distance, the blob suddenly expanded, fell back and contracted again, leaving behind a surprised Seventeen. The blob then crawled back merged with Buu, causing the shifting, featureless pillar of pink goo to turn back to Buu's large, rotund form.

Buu wasn't feeling good. All those memories and ideas that Seventeen brought with him vanished like a forgotten dream. Buu's mind became dull again, slow and frustrating. Earlier he could speak quickly and with precision, but now it became harder to express himself. Seventeen felt so many things, like a desire to protect nature, specific animals he loved more than others, his connection to his wife and children, and endless other memories and feelings... Buu felt all that rich inner world fade away, leaving nothing behind but loss and endless hunger. For the first time in his existence the pink majin didn't feel angry, happy or hungry. He felt sad.

Eighteen approached her brother, wanting to ask him if he was alright, but they both turned to look at Buu along with the rest of the gathered friends. Buu sat down heavily with his legs stretched out, raised his hands to his eyes, and started crying. Huge tears fell down his cheeks as his shoulders heaved, and the sad, high whine of his cries could be heard for miles around.

The others were stunned by this show of emotion from the normally good-natured Buu, and it was Hercule who reacted first. Mr. Satan ran to his friend, crouched down and started rubbing Buu's back. "Buu, what's wrong? Come on now, I'll fix you a huge meal and everything will be alright."

After a while the cries became sniffs, then stopped. Buu was still sad, looking at the ground with his shoulders bowed down, but the majin followed Hercule back to his massive plane without further incident. After Mr. Satan gave Videl and Pan a last hug, the two departed.

After watching Hercule's plane fly away, the others started saying their goodbyes as well. Eventually only Gohan, Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo remained outside the house, enjoying the evening breeze. The Ox King left back to his village, and Goten and Chi Chi went back inside. The big tent was gone now, leaving the area outside Goku's house empty.

Vegeta had been containing his impatience the entire time, annoying Bulma with his indifference to his family until he promised to make it up to her later. Kakarot was obviously holding back as well. Vegeta could see his rival squirming for hours now, but the big oaf most likely didn't want to annoy Chi Chi with inappropriate sparring requests. Vegeta's annoyance continued to rise after Bulma and Trunks left along with the others, until at last the prince couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Alright, Gohan." He looked at the young man. "It's time we continue our fight. I can sense you've become much stronger, but I want to see by how much."

Goku intervened immediately, sensing that all the social restrictions have been lifted. "Hey!", the saiyan complained loudly, "Wait a minute, that's not fair! You already had your chance, it's my turn now, Vegeta!"

"What!" Vegeta responded angrily. "You've got to be joking, Kakarot, that wasn't a fight! Your son's little episode ended it prematurely, it still counts as the same sparring session!"

Piccolo sighed internally while Gohan looked at his namekian mentor apologetically. The young half-saiyan stepped between Vegeta and Goku, cutting their budding argument short.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I can't fight either of you. We'll have to postpone it until I return."

Vegeta stood back and crossed his arms.

Goku looked at his son. "You want to go home now? Can't you wait a little longer?"

Gohan shook his head. "I'm not going home, there's something else I need to do. I'll be back in a few days, probably."

Vegeta nodded. "Fine. We'll continue this after your son returns, Kakarot. Don't you dare fight him before me!"

The saiyan prince's aura flared, and a moment later he vanished into the distance. Gohan, Goku and Piccolo remained behind.

"Gohan," Piccolo asked, "What are you planning?"

Gohan shook his head. "I can't tell you, I'm sorry. I'll come back after I'm done. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Piccolo nodded, looking slightly worried. "Alright, if you say so. Contact me if you need any help." The namekian started to rise into the air.

"Alright, Piccolo," Gohan nodded. "Thank you for everything."

Piccolo nodded once, then flew away towards Dende's lookout.

"Gohan," Goku said after a slight pause, "did... did something happen? Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, dad, I'm fine," Gohan looked up at his father. "We'll talk about it after I come back, ok?"

Goku sighed. He sometimes had to remind himself that Gohan was a grown man, a father and a powerful warrior, because Goku could still see that little child who came with him to Kame House all those years ago. As always, the older saiyan knew that coddling Gohan will only stunt his growth and prevent him from reaching his full potential.

"Wait," Goku said. "Before you leave, can you at least power up for me? Like you did back on supreme kai's planet before your fight with Buu?"

"Sure, I can do that. Let's fly up, it's not safe here."

(Space, outside Earth's atmosphere)

Goku and Gohan hovered in space some distance away from Earth. The blue-green planet gleamed below them, about as large as the moon appeared to be from ground level.

Goku was back in his blue form, holding his breath. Gohan was a few dozen feet away.

"Ready, dad?" Gohan asked telepathically.

"Go ahead," Goku nodded.

Gohan began powering up. Goku's eyes immediately opened wide as Gohan's ki surged, impressed by his son's huge increase in power.

Back on Earth, Vegeta was watching TV with Bulma, relaxing after the turbulent afternoon. Sensing Gohan powering up, he tuned out the prattle of whoever was speaking on TV, his face gradually settling into a surprised frown as Gohan's ki rose higher and higher.

Without transforming, Gohan's white aura expanded more and more until it shone as bright as the full moon in the night sky. A few thankful wolf-men found themselves transforming back into their human form for as long as this strange new moon remained shining.

Out in space there was no wind to threaten the surrounding environment, but Goku could feel a massive surge of divine ki flooding into Gohan's body, far eclipsing his son's power as a super saiyan god earlier that day. Eventually Gohan stopped, his energy reaching its peak.

Goku was stunned. His son looked completely at ease, not even slightly winded and his mood as peaceful as ever – but the massive power flowing inside him approached that of Goku's own blue form. It distracted Gohan as well, who did not expect to become so powerful. The young half-saiyan looked down at his own open palm, and slowly clenched his fingers into a combat-ready fist.

It felt like the universe was holding its breath, anticipating the upcoming strike.

"Dad..." transmitted the surprised Gohan, "this... this is absolutely insane."

Goku nodded, still too shocked to respond. Gohan's new power was massive, and he was still completely at peace, untransformed and losing no stamina at all. Who knew how much more powerful his son could get in the heat of battle?

"Gohan," Goku said after a few moments, "can you still transform?"

"Huh," Gohan responded, "I'll try."

Gohan's aura started flaring, but his ki remained at the same level. Goku expected his son's aura to become that angry shade of pink and red, but after a few moments of deep concentration Gohan gave up, looking disappointed. His aura remained white.

"I guess I can't, trying to transform only gets my ki up to its limit." Gohan considered what he was feeling for a few moments. "I think my ki is too different now, I need to train a little bit if I want to transform again. Not sure transforming would do anything, though."

Gohan turned away for a few moments and looked at the distant stars. He then looked back at his father and smiled.

"Dad, I have to go. See you later, ok?"

Goku smiled. "Sure, Gohan. Good luck."

Gohan started flying towards deep space, and after after a few moments shifted into the increased speed of his new space flight power.

Goku sighed, forgetting he was in space. The saiyan choked a little bit in surprise and then teleported back home.


	13. Dragon of Dreams (Updated April 25th)

(Deep space)

Gohan flew through the void, moving far faster than the speed of light. Distant stars seemed to fly past him in the other direction, becoming rainbow-colored beams of light all across his field of vision. At first Gohan's scientific mind was puzzled by the pretty light show, but he quickly realized his sight was now enhanced by divine ki, and that ki allowed him to perceive the universe even after overcoming some of its natural laws. He could even see colorful sparks ignite around and behind him, leaving a blue-green trail of light created by the interaction between his divine ki aura, random particles in space and the magical energies of Shenron's power.

After a few minutes of flying the entire view became captivating, almost hypnotically beautiful. It was completely quiet out here, and the strangely comfortable sensation of outer space combined with the shifting star-scape to create a truly unique experience. Gohan allowed himself a few minutes to simply enjoy it all, and then his mind turned to more serious matters.

Even with his newly enhanced senses he found it difficult to locate his target. He had to fly away deep into interstellar space, where the empty void was completely free of distractions. Gohan stopped there to meditate and stretch his perception, and after a few minutes his efforts were successful - the ki he was looking for was there, tens of thousands of light years away. Gohan immediately understood why it was initially so difficult to find – the task could be compared to looking for a candle in a brightly lit area at high noon.

Inside a dense cluster of stars lay a solar system with three suns. Two of the suns were gigantic spheres, dwarfing Earth's own sun by several orders of magnitude. These two titans orbited each other like a pair of dancers, and a third, smaller sun orbited the first two at a much greater distance. Three planets orbited the smaller third sun, one of which was the world Gohan was looking for. It was a peaceful world covered in plains of blue grass and green oceans, and among its strange spires of rock Gohan could sense the calm, strong ki of the namekian race.

His white aura flared around him, and Gohan sped away towards New Namek. It took him a few minutes of effortless flight to leave Earth's solar system and reach his current location, but this time the distances were too great and even at his great speed he hardly seemed to be making any progress. It was time to test Shenron's power to the fullest. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster as he got used to the feeling, Gohan began to push past the limits of the dragon's granted power, continuously burning some of his own ki to increase his speed.

The effect was dramatic. His speed increased exponentially with the additional ki, and the universe began to shift and change. The faster he flew, the smaller his field of vision became, as if the entire universe was contained in a narrowing tunnel of reality through which he was flying. The walls of the tunnel, above, below and to the sides, were a strange empty space of total nothingness, not even the darkness of space. The two ends of the tunnel, in front of Gohan and behind him, contained the entire universe. This bizarre warping of his senses made it almost impossible to focus on anything else other than his intended target. It was a side effect of accelerating Shenron's space flight that was completely unexpected, but Gohan realized he didn't have enough time to get used to it or try to overcome it. There was nothing to do but fly forward.

It took about three hours to reach New Namek even at Gohan's ridiculous speed. When he slowed down at the limits of the planet's atmosphere Gohan felt slightly winded. He stopped for a few moments to catch his breath, as it were, when another aspect of Shenron's survival ability made itself clear – Gohan could survive in space, but his stamina returned at a much slower rate. Shenron's magic sustained him, but Gohan couldn't regain ki at the same speed while resting in the void.

(New Namek, Elder Moori's village)

The villagers were tending their expanding grove of Ajisa trees when the stranger landed down in the middle of the village. Many of them identified the young man's orange outfit, but he was otherwise unfamiliar. They couldn't sense his ki at all, which the perceptive namekians found unsettling.

A young, relatively short namekian wearing a plain, brown robe approached the stranger, who bowed in respect. The namekian, slightly surprised but appreciating the young man's polite demeanor, returned the bow.

"Greetings, stranger. Can we help you?"

"Hello. Yes, I'm looking for Elder Moori," the man said. "Can you take me to him?"

"Forgive me, but I have to ask, why do you need to see Elder Moori?"

"Well..." the stranger hesitated, "I wanted to ask him to use the dragon balls. I need to summon Porunga."

The namekian was surprised the stranger knew the revered dragon's name. "Oh, well... I see no reason not to take you to him. Please, follow me."

It took a few minutes to reach Moori's house, its white, shell-like dome slightly larger than the other houses in the village. The stranger looked around, smiling.

"It looks like your people are prospering here, I'm happy for you."

"Oh?" the namekian was curious now, "you know of our people's past? Were you one of the earthlings who came to Namek before?"

The stranger nodded. "Yes, I'm Gohan, son of Goku. Dende and Piccolo are good friends of mine back on Earth."

The flustered namekian couldn't speak for a few moments. "Well, why didn't you reveal your identity earlier!" He immediately went into the tent and returned a few moments later with a surprised Elder Moori in tow. The older, heavier namekian smiled when he saw Gohan, who bowed again in respect. Moori inspected the young man for a few moments before speaking.

"Gohan, it's good to see you again. You have grown and changed in many ways, it seems. Why have you come to our little village?"

"It's good to see you too, Elder," Gohan smiled. "I wanted to ask you to use the dragon balls."

"Hmm..." the elder hesitated, but then nodded. "Your father and you are counted as heroes among our people, and I don't sense any malice from you. Tell me, Gohan, what do you intend to wish for?"

"Well," Gohan looked slightly uncomfortable, "I'm afraid my wish might sound selfish, but I promise you it's for a good cause. I need to be able to travel between our universe and otherworld, the realms of the gods."

Moori was silent for a while, considering Gohan's request. "Strange... tell me, why have you not asked your father to teach you his traveling technique? When he came to us to ask for a new guardian, I could sense him appear from otherworld using his own ki. Did anything happen to him?"

Gohan shook his head. "I actually tried learning it, but it was too... alien, I guess. My dad's mind is unique. He may not be the smartest person around, but he can master strange techniques relatively easily even if saiyans normally can't use them." Gohan hesitated, slightly embarrassed, and added "and he's not exactly the best teacher..."

Moori sighed. "Your wish seems inappropriate, mortals are not meant to travel freely to the other side. However, considering your family's great deeds, I will grant your request." He looked around, then back at Gohan. "Please allow us a few hours to gather the dragon balls."

Gohan nodded. The elder called a few other namekians and sent them to gather the dragon balls, while Gohan flew into the wilderness to hunt and rest. A few hours later he felt the namekians gather in one place and returned to the village, feeling fully restored.

The elder and the rest of the villagers were waiting for him outside Moori's house. The huge, gleaming dragon balls lay on the ground, each glowing in the presence of the others.

The gathered namekians took a few steps back so that only Gohan and Elder Moori remained near the dragon balls. "Are you ready, Gohan?" asked Moori.

"I am, elder," Gohan nodded.

"Very well, let us begin." The elder raised his voice and said "takkaraputo popurunga pupirittoparo!"

The wind picked up as the dragon balls began to shine, and the sky turned black all around the world. With a powerful flash of light and a thundering roar, the massive form of Porunga rose out of the seven shining orbs and settled in the sky. Gohan could follow the process with his enhanced senses, and he was surprised to sense just a tiny touch of god ki flow from the dragon balls and into the gigantic dragon itself. Is Shenron the same, or is it a unique quality of the namekian dragon? Gohan didn't know, and there was no more time to ponder the issue.

Strangely, instead of speaking in Namekian, Porunga looked at Gohan for a few moments and spoke in the common language.

"Speak your wishes, young god, and I will grant any three requests that are within my power," Porunga's powerful, deep voice caused the entire area to shake.

Reacting to the dragon's words, all the namekians stared at Gohan in complete surprise. Even the usually calm and collected Moori was shaken. Since the dragon addressed him personally, Gohan answered Porunga directly without referring to Moori, but he did look at the surprised elder apologetically.

"Thank you, Porunga." Gohan considered his words carefully. "I want the power to travel freely between our universe and the realms of the gods. Is that possible?"

The dragon paused for a few tense moments, and eventually answered. "No, I cannot grant you free travel between the realms." Elder Moori opened his mouth to speak after Porunga's refusal, but once again the dragon spoke first.

"However," Porunga said, "I can grant you the power to move between any point in the universe and the place of judgment, where the judge of the dead rules. From there you can find your own way or return to the place that you came from."

Gohan considered this for a moment, and almost immediately nodded. "That would be great, thank you." He wondered if the place of judgment was King Yemma's palace or some other location, but with his increased speed he didn't think it would make a difference.

"Very well," the dragon continued, "your wish is granted!" After a few moments, Gohan started feeling a strange pull on his ki sense, as if a source of god ki appeared right next to him. He turned around instinctively to look at the new ki source, but there was nothing there. It also moved around as he reached with his sense, much like a mote floating inside one's eye. Gohan understood this was some kind of manifestation caused by his wish, but didn't know how to interpret it just yet.

"Speak your second and third wishes," the massive dragon continued, his thundering voice forcing Gohan to focus. "I will grant any request that is within my power."

"Thank you," said Gohan. "I wish to be able to travel to other universes," he said simply. This part was a glaring unknown in his plan, but he had to try.

"That wish is beyond my power," the dragon answered almost immediately. "Only the most powerful of the gods have that ability."

Gohan was disappointed, but tried not to show it. "I see, thank you. May I have some time to consider my second wish?"

"Yes," said Porunga, "I will wait for as long as I can, young god."

Most of the namekians left slowly as Gohan considered his next move, until he, Moori and a few others were the only ones who remained next to the dragon balls.

"I can see you're unsure," said Moori. "Perhaps I can help you with anything?"

"I don't know," said Gohan. "To be honest, I planned to give the second and third wishes to you and your people, but now I'm not sure. Maybe there's another wish that could make a difference."

"Tell me," said Moori with some awkwardness, "why did the dragon refer to you as 'young god'?"

Gohan scratched the back of his head. "Well, I've gone through a ritual my saiyan heritage allows me to do, and it gave me the power of a god."

"The power of a god..." murmured Moori in surprise. "And what are you going to do next?"

"I'm going after someone very evil and very powerful," said Gohan. "but if I tell you more it may endanger you and your people. It's best if you do not become involved more than you already have."

"I see," nodded the aging namekian. "And what will you do after you defeat this mysterious enemy?"

Gohan smiled sadly. "Go after even worse enemies."

Moori shook his had. "You're on a path to war, this is not a fate I would wish for the son of Goku. I know you have a warrior's spirit and I mean no disrespect, but what if you simply stopped and went back home? Are you facing an immediate threat right now? You don't seem to be in a hurry."

Gohan shook his head. "I can't stop. You didn't see what I saw, Elder Moori. My mind is made up." He thought about the namekian warriors from universe six, the ones he and Piccolo faced in the tournament. Although the universes were brought back, those other namekians who chose to fuse with their warrior brothers will never return to life. But Moori can't know any of that. This new world is untouched by war and sorrow and Gohan wanted it to remain that way.

Gohan thought about other wishes he could make to gain more power. He had gone over the possibilities in the past, but always came to the same conclusion after considering the implications. He could ask for fast regeneration, eternal youth, speedy stamina recovery and much more, but these wishes interfered with his natural abilities too much. It was part of the reason why Vegeta had stopped pursuing immortality, there was something about the natural abilities of saiyans that seemed... right, something that shouldn't be tampered with.

These wishes for personal power made him rely on their magic and grow even farther away from his heritage, possibly preventing him from tapping any more of his hidden potential. He could ask the dragon for an increasingly more complex series of wishes and avoid all negative implications through precise wording, only to have some unknown wizard or angel dispel them, and reduce him back to the level of a weakling as he struggled to cope with the magic's loss. No. He had done enough to himself through Shenron's wishes, that will have to be enough.

"Great dragon," Gohan said with determination, "I leave the next wishes to Elder Moori. Thank you for your help." The young half-saiyan bowed in respect.

"Very well," boomed Porunga.

"Are you sure, Gohan?" asked Moori.

"Yes, thank you, elder," said Gohan.

"We owe your family a great debt, child," said Moori. "the namekian people will always be your allies."

Gohan nodded and looked up at the sky. "I have to go now, Elder."

Moori nodded, "just one last thing. How is Dende? Everyone here misses him."

"He's doing a great job as a Guardian, and Piccolo spends most of his time at Dende's lookout. Perhaps dad can bring them here for a visit, I'll ask Dende about it when I return to Earth."

"Thank you, it will be great to see him again."

Gohan bowed in respect one last time. "Goodbye, elder." He then rose into the air and vanished from sight.

Elder Moori looked up at the looming dragon and considered his next move. Gohan might need help very soon, perhaps the best course of action will be to have Porunga wait for as long as possible.

When Gohan looked at New Namek one last time before flying away, he could still feel Porunga's aura down below, waiting.

[A/N: Update, April 25th: Changed my mind about Gohan's wishes. Eventually made him ask for the one thing that was critical to his plan, and that's it.]


	14. Tyrant

(Central region of the galaxy, near New Namek)

In this region of space, so close to the galactic center, the stars were many and close together. For a traveler like Gohan this meant that visible space was full of colorful beams of light, and he even had to stop once after almost colliding with a brown dwarf. The half-saiyan found himself inside the alien, storm-filled atmosphere of the massive celestial body. For a few moments he forgot his mission and just looked around in amazement, observing the strange sea below and deflecting massive bolts of lightning thrown by a titanic storm. Perhaps one day, when this was all over, he could return to explore this place and record his findings.

Gohan flew away from the failed star to reorient himself. Extending his senses, he saw he was still quite far away from his target – a system relatively close to new Namek, in a region of space that was outside the galactic center but still rich in stars. Gohan vanished into the distance after a moment of concentration, leaving behind a colorful trail of energy. The universe once again faded into the strange tunnel of his accelerated space flight, and up ahead he could sense the unmistakable, massive aura of the galactic tyrant, Freeza.

About an hour later he slowed down just outside the atmosphere of the planet he was looking for. He could sense Freeza below, in a city that was massive enough to be seen clearly from orbit even in daylight. This world was settled, there were millions of people living in cities and settlements all around the planet. Freeza was in the biggest city, surrounded by a very large number of souls. Gohan decided to spend a little time scouting the place before confronting the tyrant himself, and flew down into the city.

This planet's civilization was advanced. Towering, gleaming buildings dominated the landscape, and Gohan could see a variety of flying cars, holographic displays and other signs of high technology. In fact, one such flying car was approaching him while he hovered above the city. Gohan sensed a weak ki signature inside the vehicle, although it was much more powerful than a normal human aura.

The car looked like an elongated teardrop with fins and antennae. It flew up until it reached Gohan, and then its protective dome opened up. Inside was a familiar-looking alien sitting behind the controls.

"Jaco?" Gohan said in surprise. "What happened to you?"

The alien sighed. He was wearing an eyepatch and had what appeared to be a few days' worth of stubble.

"I'm not Jaco, I'm his girlfriend Mako" responded the alien indignantly. Even the voice was almost exactly the same.

"Oh, I'm really sorry," apologized Gohan. Girlfriend? Did the females of Jaco's race grow facial hair? Wait, there was something strange about her stubble, now that Gohan had a few moments to examine it.

"My name is Gohan, I'm from Earth," he said, still looking at her facial hair and trying to understand why it looked wrong.

"I recognized you from pictures Jaco showed me," said Mako. She noticed Gohan staring and narrowed her eyes. "Is there something wrong with my face?"

Gohan blushed in embarrassment. "No, sorry. How did you find me here? Can your people sense energy?"

"Detect energy? Of course, we have quite advanced technology, you know. But no, our scanners didn't pick you up. I was on lookout duty when you arrived and saw you fly down through the air without any gear, like one of Freeza's soldiers. As far as we know most of them are camped inside the king's palace, so I came up here to see who you are."

"You saw me fly down?" Gohan asked, "That's pretty impressive." Jaco did seem to have excellent eyesight, perhaps all his race shared that gift. "Can you tell me what's happening here?"

"First, I want to know why did you come to the galactic capital?"

The galactic capital? Strange, Gohan had no idea this planet was important. He simply came here because of Freeza. "I'm... I'm a warrior," Gohan said, and his expression became serious. "I came here to defeat Freeza."

"Oh!" The alien's surprised expression caused her eye patch to fall off. She quickly returned it to its place, but Gohan had enough time to see that both of her eyes looked fine. "Freeza is ridiculously powerful, if you are same Gohan Jaco told me about then you should turn back."

Gohan smiled. "I think I'm going to do just fine."

The alien sighed again. "Well, you and your family are supposed to be almost illegally powerful, so who knows." She pointed towards towards a large, walled complex in the center of the city. It consisted of an impressive main building, all slender spires, domes and arches, surrounded by gardens and fountains. "Freeza is right there in the main palace. His soldiers took over the entire compound, and even forced the remaining galactic patrolmen to work for him." Mako became more serious and her voice sounded angry. "Freeza even forced the galactic king to be his personal servant!"

Gohan considered this for a few moments. "Wait, aren't you a galactic patrolwoman? How come you aren't working for Freeza?"

"I went rogue," Mako said proudly, then raised her hands and adopted a heroic pose similar to Jaco's. "Now I lead a small but brave group of rebels, fighting for truth and freedom." She looked at Gohan for a few moments to see his reaction to her pose, then smiled in satisfaction. The earthling was obviously impressed by her style and skill.

Gohan was, in fact, impressed by the pose. "Okay, Mako. Look, I need to go now, but I have to know something first. Why are you wearing an eye patch? Were you injured by one of Freeza's men?"

Mako lowered her head a little, then looked at Gohan almost defiantly. "No. Jaco brought a few movies from Earth, and in several action movies the heroes looked very impressive. I chose to adopt their style to inspire my people."

"Err... you know those were probably men, right? Most Earth women can't grow facial hair."

"MEN?!" Mako was shocked. "I was sure they were women!" She looked so disappointed Gohan actually felt bad.

"Well, I have to go. Goodbye, Mako. Thanks for the help." Gohan smiled at the patrolwoman and flew away towards the palace.

Back in her car, the depressed Mako sat down, pulled out a handkerchief from the glove box and started wiping her "facial hair" away, which was just makeup. "Oh well," she said to herself, "I still have that other costume that I thought was for Earth men, but was actually for their women. I guess it also made the real male earthlings pretty happy." She reached into the back seat of the car and picked up a skimpy female biker outfit.

(Palace of the Galactic King, main hall)

Freeza sat on the galactic throne, his arms crossed. His tail was coiled up behind him and over the side of the throne, tapping it with impatience. A few moments later the galactic king appeared from a side door and entered the massive throne room. In two of his tentacles he held a tray with a glass of wine, which sloshed gently as the king crossed the hall towards the throne. Eventually the king reached Freeza and waited patiently for the tyrant's orders.

Freeza opened his eyes and looked at the king with a sneer. "You were too slow, again." Before the king could respond, an invisible telekinetic burst sent him flying across the room. The tentacled monarch landed painfully next to a group of Freeza's alien soldiers, who found the spectacle hilarious. The glass of wine shattered on the floor next to him, staining the king.

One of the soldiers kicked the fallen king, who cried out in pain. "What are you waiting for, servant? Lord Freeza asked you for a glass of wine! Go!" The soldier raised his leg for another kick, but there was a sudden gust of wind and the king was gone.

Freeza looked ahead and raised an eyebrow, observing the confused soldiers and the vanished monarch. "Interesting," he smiled.

Outside, in the palace gardens, Gohan gently laid the king on the ground. The king groaned in pain and propped himself up, looking at the young warrior in confusion. A moment later, Gohan vanished.

Gohan flew back into the throne room at full speed. Some of Freeza's men were guarding the entrances or patrolling inside, but none of them even sensed his presence. To Gohan they all looked like statues frozen in place. When the half-saiyan returned to the throne room, however, Freeza easily followed his progress. The tyrant stood up while Gohan was still flying from the entrance to the center of the room, as if to greet his opponent.

Freeza's soldiers were stunned to see a stranger appear suddenly in the middle of the hall, and aimed their blasters at him. "Stop right there, scum!" said one of the soldiers, a lizard-like alien covered in red scales.

Gohan looked around at the surrounding soldiers. There was a sudden breeze followed by sounds of impact, and all of them fell to ground, unconscious. Gohan had moved too fast for the soldiers to see, knocking them out one after the other while Freeze looked on, observing Gohan's movements.

Freeza and Gohan remained the only ones standing. "Tell me, monkey," smiled Freeza, "why have you come here? I expected your father, or even Vegeta, this is a most pleasant surprise."

"I'm here to correct an angel's mistake," said Gohan calmly.

Freeza laughed. "Oh my, how terrifying. I admit, you do feel stronger than before, but don't think you're powerful enough to challenge me. Since you provided me with some entertainment, I'll give you one chance to head back home. Go now, leave while I'm still in a good mood."

Gohan felt his anger starting to rise at the sight of this murderous psychopath babbling about his good mood. There was nothing more he could say, words were wasted on this monster. Without warning, Gohan flew towards Freeza at full speed, rotated at the last moment and hit Freeza with a powerful high kick that caught the tyrant by surprise. The impact sent Freeza flying up into the upper atmosphere, and the accompanying shock wave was powerful enough to reduce this section of the palace to rubble.

Gohan followed Freeza into orbit, unleashing a massive energy blast at the tyrant. By that time, however, Freeza managed to recover from Gohan's kick. The tyrant was stunned by the monstrous power of Gohan's untransformed state, and decided it was best to finish the battle as soon as possible. With a yell and a release of power, Freeza transformed into his golden form and started to deflect the blast toward the planet.

The energy blast was extremely powerful, though, and the act of deflecting it was not instantaneous. Gohan had enough time to fire a smaller energy attack into the much bigger orb currently being deflected by Freeza, causing it to explode violently. Freeza cursed as the titanic explosion battered him, but held his ground.

Gohan went on the offensive again immediately after the explosion, attacking Freeza with a lightning-fast flurry of kicks and blows. The tyrant was ready for the half-saiyan's assault, blocking or dodging his attacks and retaliating with his own strikes whenever possible. Their battle carried them around the planet, and to the millions of inhabitants below it looked like random flashes of light in the sky accompanied by deep, powerful thunder.

Eventually Freeza managed to wrap his tail around Gohan's left arm. He threw the half-saiyan away, and immediately launched a lethal energy disk at his opponent, threatening to cut him in half. Gohan sensed the attack in time, but he knew there was no time to dodge and it was too deadly to block. Instead, Gohan let the disk reach him, then rotated gracefully while nudging the disk with controlled, elegant bursts of ki. Freeza saw Gohan catch the disk in the air with his open palm, rotate in place and launch the cutting attack right back at him, all in one, smooth motion.

Freeza dodged the disk, and the deadly attack exploded into a shower of sparks behind him. The two opponents hovered in place for a few moments, allowing the enraged Freeza to speak.

"You dare! You dare attack me! I wasn't planning on visiting your world anytime soon, but my plans have changed. Oh, how they have changed." His eyes opened wide and his features twisted in a display of murderous anger. "Once I've destroyed you I'll be paying a visit to that cursed planet of yours, and I'll be sure to tell all of your monkey relatives who doomed them before I destroy them all." Freeza raised his arm, one finger pointing up, and gathered a gigantic death ball almost instantly. "THEY WILL BURN FOR YEARS BEFORE I ALLOW THEM TO DIE!" With a final scream of rage, the tyrant hurled the huge, black orb of crackling energy down towards the planet.

Gohan immediately released a blast of his own towards Freeza's attack, causing the death ball to fly away into space. This action gave Freeza enough time to charge at the half-saiying and land a painful kick that connected with Gohan's ribs. As Gohan recoiled in pain, the tyrant followed through with a barrage of painful punches, finally kicking Gohan away and launching a deadly beam of ki from his finger.

The beam pierced Gohan's left shoulder, and a spray of blood bloomed in the air behind him. Gohan shouted in pain and grabbed his shoulder while Freeza laughed, enjoying the sight of his wounded enemy. "Still think this was a good idea, monkey?" Freeza chuckled in glee.

Instead of answering, Gohan gritted his teeth and ignored the painful wound. With an effort of willpower, he gathered his energy into his right hand, extended it towards the surprised tyrant and launched a wide beam of white hot energy towards his laughing opponent. The beam engulfed the surprised Freeza and launched him away into space, his entire body covered in burns and soot.

"It's no use," thought Gohan. Freeza was even stronger now than he was during the tournament, so strong that he seemed unstoppable. Freeza's increased energy control meant he could survive in golden form for extended periods of time, so any hope of tiring him out was lost. Even now the drained Gohan could feel Freeza's massive ki aura stabilize and ignite in anger. The tyrant regained control thousands of miles away and launched himself back towards the planet.

Freeza crashed into Gohan head-first like an angry comet, slamming into the half-saiyan's stomach with an angry roar. The terrible impact caused a massive shock wave that evaporated the clouds in the atmosphere below, and the strike almost knocked Gohan unconscious. Although he was scorched and bleeding from a multitude of small wounds, Freeza proceeded to beat the dazed saiyan mercilessly.

"You fool!" Freeza screamed. "Sacrificing yourself for these scum on the planet below, as if they're worth saving!" Gohan could just barely block some of Freeza's slower, more telegraphed attacks, but was too far gone to protect himself against the majority of the strikes. "WHO DO YOU THINK BOUGHT PLANETS FROM ME ALL THOSE YEARS!" Freeza screamed as he buried his fist in Gohan's gut. "YOU PATHETIC WRETCH!"

Gohan was hovering there, barely conscious and trying desperately to focus through the pain. Freeza breathed heavily in berserk rage as he watched his enemy tumbling through the air. It took him a few moments, but eventually the tyrant regained control and his breathing slowed. With a cold smile Freeza focused his energy into the tip of his tail, making it crackle with power.

"Don't worry, monkey, soon you'll be joined by the rest of your pathetic relatives," Freeza said. He raised his tail and attacked, using it like a spear to impale Gohan through the stomach. The half-saiyan shouted in pain and finally blacked out. With a lash of his tail, Freeza tossed Gohan down like a rag doll while laughing manically. The tyrant looked at the falling Gohan for a few moments, then raised his arm and gathered a massive, world-destroying energy sphere aimed at the planet's core.

(Sacred world of the kais)

Old Kai and Shin were gathered around the old one's crystal ball, watching Gohan fight Freeza. They have been following Gohan's actions ever since the ritual earlier that day, stunned by the young warrior's increased power and puzzled by the change in his essence.

"What should we do, elder?" asked the younger god in a worried tone.

"It's a pickle," answered Old Kai. "If we do nothing and Gohan dies, Freeza will go on a rampage and destroy even more planets before anyone could stop him. Twenty eight will become twenty seven and then twenty six and so on, and soon we'll become a ghost universe."

"But Beerus was the one that ordered Freeza to be brought back to life, if we help Gohan he might be angry with us."

"Yes, he probably will..." the elder god said, deep in thought.

"What if we brought in Goku to fight Freeza?" asked Shin.

"That might work, but then Beerus will be angry at Goku. It looks like he has some kind of relationship with our saiyan friend, if that connection breaks because Beerus gets angry, nothing will stop Beerus from destroying Earth."

"You're right," said Shin, "we have to think about the future as well, not just this fight."

"Of course I'm right," the old one. "If we help Gohan and Freeza dies, Beerus might focus his anger on Gohan for acting alone, and Earth will most likely be spared. He may become angry with us as well if he finds out what happened, but that's a risk we're going to have to take."

This train of thought saddened Shin. "So we help Gohan only to watch him be destroyed later on, and count this as a success?"

Old Kai looked into his younger friend's eyes. "It looks like that will be the wisest thing to do. I know it's difficult, but we have to try to save as many people as possible."

Shin nodded. "Very well, how should we proceed? I could transport myself to Gohan's location in the mortal realms and bring him here, but Freeza is much faster than me and I probably won't have time to act."

"You're right," said Old Kai, "very good. We should teleport to New Namek again and use the dragon to help Gohan, last time I looked Porunga was still waiting, but he was getting grumpier by the minute."

(The Galactic Capital planet)

Freeza felt a momentary pang of regret as the world below was engulfed by a cataclysmic explosion. It was a useful world, the hub for a large network of trade and communication across the galaxy. The regret vanished quickly, however, and was replaced by the usual rush of pleasure as the planet tore itself apart. He used too much energy and the world was completely vaporized far too quickly for his taste, but you live and learn. Freeza's ship was parked on one of the planet's small moon, along with a skeleton crew. It will be a bother to fly there now using his own power, but it was a small price to pay.

Where there was a living, prosperous world, now there was a glowing-hot field of space dust and small asteroids. As always, he searched with some amusement for those tiny bits of surface that somehow survived intact, but to Freeza's dismay his senses told him something else.

No. NO. NOOO! Freeza shouted wordlessly and flew towards the familiar energy signature. How could he have survived? Not only was the wretch already on death's doorstep, the precious air his kind needed to exist had evaporated along with the rest of the planet!

Gohan was hovering in the debris field, glowing with energy. He opened his eyes, suddenly completely restored. Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? The sight of an enraged Freeza charging at him forced the half-saiyan to focus, and he quickly dodged the tyrant's attack. The two hovered in place and examined each other.

Gohan was distracted by an unfamiliar feeling, and looked at himself with surprise. "What is this..." he thought, "is this me? This power is unreal!" The young man completely ignored Freeza for a few moments, looked at his open palm and clenched his fist, sending ripples of lightning across his entire arm.

His carelessness was rewarded by the feeling of Freeza's tail wrapping itself around his neck with crushing force, while the tyrant was hovering behind Gohan. Unable to target Freeza directly, Gohan channeled ki into his neck until Freeza was forced to release his victim and fly away, his tail smoking and burnt. Gohan massaged his bruised neck and looked around, this time maintaining his guard.

Suddenly he realized where he was, and a terrible, guilty rage began to grow inside him. All those millions of people, Mako, even the king, all gone... this act of mass murder was too much to take. Gohan once again thought back to that moment in the tournament, when the smiling Whis brought Freeza back to life at Beerus' request. "You did this, Beerus," the enraged Gohan thought, "this has to stop NOW!"

Gohan's aura changed color, from pure, shining white to angry purple and red, and his hair turned from black to pastel pink with white highlights. Yelling soundlessly in the airless void, Gohan's deep guilt and unrestrained rage poured out of him in waves of energy. Freeza had no idea what this lunatic was doing, but kept his distance rather than risk some unknown attack.

The debris field around them rippled and began to fill with matter, and soon afterward Freeza and Gohan were surrounded by a lattice of massive rock filaments stretching for thousands of miles in all directions, intersecting each other to create an endless variety of shapes. To Freeza it looked like some kind of gigantic, planet-sized cave interior, filled with equally massive stalactites and stalagmites growing in all directions. Freeza smiled. No matter what power this fool was trying to use, all it did was summon some rocks.

Gohan finally stopped and looked around, enraged and disappointed. For a few moments he felt something, some new power, and grabbed it with his inexperienced mental hands. With all his might he tried to bring the planet back somehow, but the only thing he managed to create was this world-sized tombstone. And in front of him hovered Freeza, smiling.

Gohan charged at the tyrant, completely consumed by rage. Freeza barely dodged Gohan's initial flying kick, and both opponents re-engaged in a furious exchange of close-range strikes. This time Gohan had a clear advantage in terms of both strength and speed, slowly wearing down Freeza's stamina. The battle was long, and the entire zone became full of floating rocks and dust as the two opponents crashed through one rock filament after another. Eventually Gohan punched Freeza in the stomach, and then kneed the tyrant in the face as he reeled in pain. Freeza stumbled back through the rock-filled void, momentarily dazed.

Unable and unwilling to hold back, Gohan raised his arm and launched an energy blast at Freeza, who barely managed to dodge it in time. While Freeza was distracted by the blast, Gohan grabbed whatever power he had used earlier and summoned it again, this time with lethal intent. Spears of rock grew out of the stone filaments near Freeza and rushed to impale the tyrant. Surprised by the speed of the attack and weakened by the prolonged battle, Freeza couldn't escape all of them and was eventually caught off guard.

Screaming without sound, Freeza reeled in pain as two spears of stone pierced his left leg. As soon as he slowed down the doomed tyrant realized it was all over. Hundreds more strands of rock rushed towards him and impaled Freeza from all directions, sealing his fate and grinding together with a force that sent ripples throughout the entire rock formation.

Gohan turned his head away from the grisly sight, his rage spent. The angry aura faded back to white, and his hair returned to its natural position and color. Looking at Freeza's remains, Gohan raised his arm and released a burning hot stream of energy until nothing was left. Freeza was gone.

Gohan had no idea how he survived Freeza's brutal attacks earlier, but somehow he came back, stronger than before and with access to a new power. It might very well be the creation power his dream apparition was talking about, cementing the fact that at least part of the entire thing was true. Gohan looked at the area previously occupied by the impaled Freeza, and once again felt that deep, familiar shame. He lost control, failed to protect innocent people and acted with a murderous aggression that made him feel uncomfortable. Part of it was Beerus' fault, the destroyer's savagery staining and corrupting the rest of his universe, but Gohan couldn't blame Beerus for everything. He must remain in control, he must act out of a need to protect, not fuel his attacks with murderous hatred and rage.

Still, the past was over and done with, there was nothing he could do to change it. Right now it was time for the next phase of his plan, the reason he flew all the way to New Namek to make that wish to Porunga. Gohan concentrated on the strange, fleeting god ki he felt after making that wish, and it immediately came to mind. This time, instead of trying to locate it precisely, he concentrated and tried to draw it forth, as if it was a part of his own divine ki.

Gohan vanished, leaving behind his strange, failed creation of rock and void.


	15. Soul Searching

(Otherworld, outside King Yemma's palace)

Gohan found himself on a wide walkway of white stone, leading up to an ornate temple gate and the palatial building behind it. The sky above was clear blue, and the entire surrounding area was covered by soft, yellow clouds. On the walkway itself there was an impossibly long line of small, white flames, each dancing in place as if impatient to move forward towards the palace gate. The walkway, and the line of impatient flames, stretched from the gate itself and into the distance, as far as Gohan could see. Each flame had a tiny portion of mortal ki, and the half-saiyan recognized them as dead souls waiting to be judged.

The scene looked familiar, but Gohan could never remember exact details about this place. Intellectually he knew he died once, when Earth was destroyed by Buu, but the period of time between his absorption and revival was blank. This wasn't a good time for drudging up memories of the past. Gohan cleared his mind, rose above the line of waiting souls and began flying towards the palace.

Closer to the gate there were several ogres keeping the souls moving in an orderly fashion. They wore modern office clothes common in Earth's cities, and held small flags, waving them up and down to prevent souls from cutting in line or staying still for too long. Gohan approached one of the ogres, a young-looking one with a thin mustache and tidy black hair. When he saw Gohan, the ogre suddenly froze in place.

"Hello, my name is Gohan. Can you take me to King Yemma, please? This is important."

"Err..." the ogre couldn't sense Gohan's divine ki as such, but he could instinctively sense the young man's high rank, as if he was radiating authority. The unfamiliar sensation caused the ogre to stutter in confusion. Eventually force of habit took over, and the ogre nodded. "Of course, come with me, sir."

The pair started walking towards the palace. The other ogres stared at Gohan and his companion in stunned silence, sensing that same authority but not knowing who or what he was. Gohan stretched his ki senses as the pair advanced, trying to get more familiar with this strange world. What he sensed was so outright bizarre that he couldn't understand it at first, and when they got to the palace gates Gohan had to stop. Perhaps there will be time to explore later.

An older, higher ranking ogre relieved Gohan's companion and sent him back to his post on the walkway. The older ogre was bald, had a wrinkled face and wore thick, black-rimmed glasses. He took out a pen from his pocket and opened his notebook, prepared to write. Unlike the younger ogres, this one had seen it all. Gohan's strange aura of authority didn't affect him as much.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

"Hello," Gohan nodded in greeting. "I need to see King Yemma."

"Special visitor for King Yemma," the ogre mumbled as he wrote the details down. "What is the purpose of your visit here?" He considered adding that mortals weren't supposed to come here at all, but avoided doing so on instinct. This young man's rank felt much higher than his own.

"I need to ask him about ways to deal with a soul of a dead mortal."

"Query... soul..." the ogre wrote everything down, then put the notebook and the pen back in his shirt pocked. "Very well, follow me please."

The interior of King Yemma's palace was colossal. The proportions were such that the building's true size was difficult to judge, but it looked like the hall of judgement was made for giants. From the palace entrance Gohan could see King Yemma judging a soul in the distance, close to the other side of the hall. The entire space between King Yemma's table and the main entrance was empty, and the line of waiting souls ended just behind Gohan. In fact, some of them quivered in annoyance when the half-saiyan and his ogre escort passed them by.

"Sorry, guys," Gohan said. "I'll try to make this as fast as possible." He couldn't tell if the souls understood him, but felt he had to apologize.

A thunder shook the entire hall just a few moments later, as King Yemma signed the soul's documents and gave them to his assistants. The soul quickly left through the exit at the other end of the gigantic hall, and the ogre started walking forward. "Follow me to King Yemma's table, please."

The two crossed the room and reached the towering wooden table. "King Yemma, this mortal wishes to speak with you," the ogre said calmly. "He has questions about a mortal soul."

The gigantic judge of the dead looked at Gohan for a few moments, clearly confused.

"Ahh... well, alright." Yemma came to his senses and looked at Gohan. "Who are you?"

"My name is Gohan, sir," Gohan said patiently, looking up at the massive ogre. "I believe you know my father. His name is Goku, we're from Earth."

"Oh, you're Goku son? I remember judging you once, years ago." He sighed, slightly annoyed by the thought of wasting time on souls that were later revived. "Well, how can I help you, Gohan?"

"Did you judge Freeza recently?" Gohan asked.

"Ah, yes." Yemma's face wrinkled in distaste. "I sent him straight back to Earth's hell, where he was before."

Gohan sighed. "Excuse me, King Yemma, but why?"

Yemma was surprised by Gohan's question. "Why what?"

"Why would you do something like that? Doesn't that mean that Freeza gets to keep his body, and could just be revived later?"

Yemma stopped. Did the strange mortal just question his judgement? This was exactly the worst thing anyone could say to him. He could sense Gohan's apparent rank very clearly, but the young man was still just a mortal.

"I am the judge of the dead," said Yemma in a booming voice, growing more and more annoyed. "I don't owe you any explanations, mortal. I'll forgive your insolence this one time out of respect for your father and his deeds, but you have to leave this place right now."

Gohan started to get angry as visions of Freeza's murderous past rose up in his mind. Gohan's recent loss of control, however, still made him feel regretful and deeply ashamed, and the young half-saiyan forced himself to calm down. All his research over the years seemed to imply that Yemma performed his assigned function and nothing else. The entire system seemed sick and failing to Gohan, but there was no real reason to get angry at this gigantic ogre specifically.

"I'm sorry," Gohan said and looked up, straight into Yemma's eyes, "but I will not leave."

A shocked silence spread through the room. Defying King Yemma in this hall was absolutely unheard of. The various assistant ogres quickly retreated to stand as far away as possible, and even the waiting souls moved a few steps back.

"WHAT!" shouted Yemma, "how dare you!" The massive ogre stood up, causing his chair to emit an extremely loud grinding noise. He pointed at Gohan and called out to his assistants. "Guards! Remove this mortal from my palace right now!"

One ogre took a step forward, noticed he was the only one moving, and quickly stepped back. The others held their breath. In their eyes Gohan was radiating extreme authority, as if his rank was much higher than Yemma himself. Their loyalty to Yemma was completely negated by the young man's strange essence.

"Useless, all of you," said Yemma in anger and pounded the table with his hand, shaking the entire hall.

Gohan just stood there calmly, facing Yemma's wrath without flinching.

Yemma was furious, but didn't allow his anger to overcome his common sense. Gohan was the one of the strongest beings in the universe when he first died, and since then the young man had apparently gotten even stronger. And not just that, his aura commanded authority on a level Yemma had sensed only a few times before. It wasn't enough to compel him to obey this mortal, but combined with Gohan's power it did dissuade Yemma from from engaging in physical combat.

Perhaps he should call Grand Kai for reinforcements? If Grand Kai and his warriors attacked Gohan together, they might be able to defeat him... possibly. The fact that he couldn't tell for sure bothered Yemma greatly. Perhaps he should goad the young man into revealing more of his intentions, then come to a final decision.

Yemma sat down heavily, slightly less angry now that he had some kind of plan. "I sent Freeza to hell because he's completely evil and needs to be punished. The place he's in right now may seem pleasant to others, but to Freeza it's an eternal torture."

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Gohan. "My father told me that during Freeza's time in hell he trained himself mentally, and his energy control was sharpened to an extremely high level..." Gohan stopped, suddenly realizing the huge mistake he had made. After all these months of planning, how could he have been so blind? He was still alive thanks only to blind luck.

After waking up from his ordeal following the ritual, Gohan sensed Freeza's power and it was lower than his own. He had assumed that Freeza would lose in a confrontation between them, but apparently Gohan had underestimated Freeza's unbelievable ability to control energy. By amplifying his power precisely at the right moment and keeping the flow of ki in his body under complete control, Freeza's effective power was, in fact, much greater than Gohan's at the time. It was the same way Goku, Vegeta and the rest of his family and friends fought, taken to an unimaginably high level of skill.

If a mysterious benefactor hadn't saved him, he'd be dead. And if his saiyan physiology hadn't boosted his personal power after he was healed, he'd be just as dead. Freeza's skill at controlling energy was now far, far greater than his own, possibly much greater than his father's as well. And by having more time to train it, that skill would increase exponentially until the tyrant was revived again, this time as a completely unstoppable monster. Gohan couldn't allow that to happen.

Yemma coughed, ending Gohan's reverie. "Okay," began Gohan. "Freeza can't be allowed to train and become any stronger than he is now. Sending him to the same place he was before was a huge mistake, King Yemma."

Yemma's eyes almost bulged out in anger, but once again he refused to lose control. "Well, I have already judged him. It's done."

"Can't you change your decision?" asked Gohan.

Lying was against King Yemma's nature. "Yes," he admitted through teeth clenched in anger.

"Okay. Can you neutralize him somehow? What happens if his soul is destroyed while he's in the afterlife?"

Gasps of shock sounded from all around the room as the ogres contemplated Gohan's question. Destroying a soul was the most heinous crime imaginable, if it could even be accomplished.

Yemma looked down at Gohan, frowning. "First you barge into my hall and refuse to leave, and now you talk about destroying souls? That's the most terrible sin that can ever be performed! None may do it except..." Yemma stopped talking, suddenly feeling cold dread at the direction this conversation was taking.

"Except who?" Gohan asked, perfectly calm.

"Nevermind that," Yemma tried to changed the subject. "You want to neutralize Freeza? What would you have me do, then?"

"I don't know," admitted Gohan, "I'm not an expert in these matters. And the scholars of Earth don't really know much about it either. That's why I'm asking you, can you do anything to neutralize Freeza? And I mean forever, so that he can't be revived."

The gigantic judge settled back in his chair, deep in thought. A long time passed before Yemma spoke again. "No," he said in a somewhat uncertain voice.

Gohan looked at King Yemma carefully. Whatever his faults, the massive god was so bad at hiding the truth that even Gohan could pick it up easily, despite not being an adept at reading people. Yemma was clearly very nervous, huge beads of sweat appearing around the edges of his horned helmet. His eyes were moving rapidly from side to side, and he started tapping one foot on the ground rapidly, causing minor tremors.

"I think you're hiding something," Gohan said. "There's an important fact you're not telling me."

Yemma allowed some of his anger to come back, gathering his courage. "That's it, mortal. You've gone too far." Yemma turned to one of the ogres waiting at the edges of the hall. "You! Call for reinforcements right now. Tell them what's happening and ask for everyone to come here as fast as possible." When the stunned ogre refused to move, Yemma shouted "NOW!", causing the frightened assistant to run towards a smaller exit.

"I don't want to fight, but I will if I have too," said Gohan calmly. He began to rise into the air, reaching the level of Yemma's head. The half-saiyan started gathering his energy, instantly causing his white aura to expand and flare. A wind picked up in the hall, flowing away from Gohan's body and rising steadily along with the young man's power. Gohan began to shine with a bright light, and small arcs of lightning reached around him as if searching for a target to strike.

Yemma lost his nerve when several lightning arcs hit his table, setting one of the documents on fire. "Enough! Stop!" Yemma yelled and snatched the document away, snuffing out the fire with his finger. "You," he told the ogre, "stay right there for now." The frightened ogre nodded and stopped moving.

The lightning disappeared and Gohan's aura calmed down, although he remained hovering in mid air. He looked at Yemma, waiting to hear what the judge of souls had to say.

"Fine," said Yemma angrily. "Beerus, the Destroyer. Long ago he told me to keep Freeza safely locked away so that he could always be revived in case something happened to him. Beerus didn't expect Freeza to die, but he came here with his servant and asked me personally. In fact, before he left he asked me to keep any evil, violent warrior who was as strong as Freeza or even stronger."

Gohan's eyes widened in surprise. Of course. Beerus had some kind of relationship with Freeza that mirrored the destroyer's connection to his father and Vegeta. For some reason the catlike god didn't want Freeza to disappear forever, but why? Was it just so he could have another powerful warrior in his stable of gladiators?

"I didn't expect Freeza to get stronger in hell," continued Yemma, "but that doesn't change anything as far as the destroyer's request is concerned."

"I thought Beerus was the god of destruction," said Gohan, "what kind of authority does he have over the dead?"

Yemma shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Well, he doesn't. It's simply... well, safer, to grant his requests."

Was everyone in this universe just a victim of Beerus? Gohan's anger returned, this time taking longer to calm down. Again, King Yemma was almost certainly a complete innocent in this affair. There was no reason to get angry at him.

"King Yemma, what would you have done if Beerus hadn't intervened?"

"Well," the king thought about it for a few moments, "I'd probably wipe away his memories and send him to be reincarnated. I'd do it as fast as possible, too."

Gohan's eyes opened in surprise once again. "You can do that?"

"Of course!" Thundered Yemma, "I rule over all the dead souls in the universe!"

"Well, why not do it now? Why not send Freeza to be reincarnated right away?"

Yemma looked right into Gohan's eyes. "Didn't you hear me? What about Beerus?"

It took Gohan a few moments to come to a decision. "Let me worry about that. Tell Beerus I threatened you and you didn't have a choice."

"I..." Yemma stammered, "I can't lie to him."

Gohan's aura expanded rapidly, the sudden gust of wind sending Yemma's papers flying around the hall and forcing the panicked ogres to run for cover. Blasts of lightning left charred spots on the ceiling and floor directly above and below Gohan, a particularly violent bolt actually disintegrating one of the yellow floor tiles and causing a blast of red-hot shrapnel. Yemma had to look away or risk getting blinded by the sudden flash of Gohan's aura.

"I can make it convincing, if you want."

Yemma had no choice. This time he could feel Gohan's raw power in the air, and knew none of Grand Kai's legendary warriors could stand up to Goku's son. Even if all of them attacked at once it would still be a one-sided battle. "Stop!" Yemma roared, "I'll do it!"

Gohan's aura calmed down instantly, and this time he sank to the floor. "Can you bring him Freeza here before you reincarnate him?" Gohan avoided the blasted floor tile and continued. "I want to ask him a few questions."

Yemma nodded. This mortal had him in his power, there was nothing he could do but agree to all his demands. Sighing, he scanned the floor and noted the blasted tile. The giant ogre pointed at the ruined spot and commanded "Freeza! Appear!".

From the ash-filled pit that the ruined tile left behind, a small sapling started to grow. It grew up fast, making strange grinding noises, until it became a large tree. A small, strange cocoon was hanging from one of the tree's branches, and inside that cocoon was trapped the former galactic tyrant. Only Freeza's head could be seen, the rest of his body hidden by the cocoon's folds.

The dead tyrant opened his eyes and stared bloody murder at Yemma, and then his eyes bulged even harder when he saw Gohan. "You!" Freeza grimaced in rage, unable to move. "I will get free eventually, and then I'll be coming after all of you! You should have left me alone, fool!"

Gohan observed the cocooned tyrant for a few moments, considering his approach. Even now he could sense Freeza straining what little ki was available to him in strange ways. Was it possible that he could escape his prison on his own? Who knows. Freeza has defied all expectations, surpassed every limit that mortals were supposed to have, and that's without even having access to god ki. His innate gifts were staggering. Was he born twisted? Or was he molded into a murderer by that father of his? Was it possible that without his memories, Freeza could become a good person in another life? Gohan wanted to believe it. Piccolo became his mentor, practically a second father, and Vegeta changed from a murderer to a husband and a father. Whatever regrets Gohan had about the way he killed Freeza, he felt this was the right thing to do.

But first, a few last questions. "Freeza, what's your connection to Beerus?"

Surprised by the question, Freeza stopped ranting and raving. "What? What are you babbling about, what connection?"

Gohan looked at Yemma for a moment. "Beerus, the Destroyer. He asked for you to be kept in hell if you die, so that you could be revived later."

Freeza's eyes betrayed his surprise, but he said nothing.

After Freeza remained silent for a few moments, Gohan continued. "Well?"

"Well what?" asked Freeza with a sneer. "Do you honestly think I'll answer your questions? I have nothing to say to you, scum."

Gohan smiled, looking into Freeza's eyes. He came closer to the trapped tyrant and raised his hand towards the cocoon. King Yemma stood up, worried that Gohan might somehow carry out his threat to destroy Freeza's soul completely.

"What do you think you're doing, fool?" asked the alarmed Freeza.

"Oh, nothing," Gohan smiled – increasing Freeza's rage – and tapped the cocoon gently with his finger, causing the entire thing to sway gently.

"I swear to you, halfbreed, when I get free I will exterminate you all."

Gohan started to whistle a tune from a popular commercial he kept hearing on the radio, and began tapping Freeza's cocoon along with the rhythm.

Freeza was seething with anger, but closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. He could withstand the torture of those faeries and stuffed animals down in hell, so he must be able to withstand this pathetic monkey. But try as he might, every time he almost centered himself there was another tap, and that horrible, nightmarish tune repeated itself. What's worse, the infernal half-saiyan whistled wrong, mangling a note every once in a while in a way that completely prevented Freeza from meditating. His rage increased more and more, until every last bit of mental peace evaporated.

"STOP!" Freeza roared in impotent rage.

Gohan stopped and took a step back. "Tell me," he said after a few moments of silence, "what's your connection to Beerus?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, scum." Freeza said. "I only saw him once before, not counting our recent encounters, and he didn't say anything to imply there was a connection."

"What?" asked the surprised Gohan, "When was this?"

"It was before you were spawned," Freeza looked at Gohan angrily, "when Vegeta was still a child."

"What did he tell you, then?" Gohan asked. Perhaps the destroyer let something slip that might be useful.

Freeza had no intention of telling Gohan the truth. "Nothing, he told me to take Vegeta under my wing if something happened to his father, and raise the child properly. And that's exactly what I did," Freeza said with a smug half-smile.

Gohan considered this, but before he could come to any conclusions King Yemma rose up and shouted. "I will not have any soul lie in this hall! Your past is on display now, Freeza!" Yemma's loud voice shook the entire room. "One more lie and you'll regret it!"

Freeza frowned and looked at the judge of the dead angrily. "Fine. Beerus told me to destroy planet Vegeta. I didn't think much of it because I was going to do it anyway." Staring into Gohan's eyes, he added "and that's the end my little encounter with the god of destruction. My father knew Beerus somehow and warned me never to cross him, so I never did."

Gohan was stunned by this revelation. The saiyans were a murderous, savage race and far from innocent, but the fact that Beerus was involved in their destruction was a huge surprise. It didn't affect him personally as much as he thought it might, Gohan couldn't feel any more anger towards Beerus than he already felt. However, this news might change everything for Vegeta. Who knows how the prince will react.

And there was that other tidbit of knowledge, too. "Your father?" Gohan focused and turned to King Yemma. "King Yemma, is Freeza's father available for questioning?"

Yemma shook his head. "No, he was reincarnated years ago."

Freeza raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing.

Gohan sighed, disappointed. Other than Beerus' request to destroy planet Vegeta he didn't learn anything useful. After considering for few minutes, Gohan came to the conclusion that any further interrogation of Freeza would be pointless.

"Alright," Gohan told the judge, "Please reincarnate Freeza now."

"What!" The enraged Tyrant shouted. "NO!"

King Yemma said nothing. He sat down, took out a form and started filling it while Freeza was shouting. Gohan observed the enraged tyrant silently, and after a minute of waiting Yemma put his pen down and reached for his stamp.

"King Yemma," Gohan began, his voice softer than usual. "Is there a way to make Freeza come back as a good person?"

Yemma looked at Gohan with surprise. You could never tell with these mortals. The young man seemed so ruthless and commanding, but now, at the last moment, he was showing a more merciful side. Now Gohan reminded Yemma of his father. Just before Goku destroyed Majin Buu, the saiyan had wished for Buu to be reincarnated as a good person. Buu was completely evil, true, but his evil was tied to his magical nature. Without his body and with his magic gone, the soul of Buu was a completely blank slate. Yemma couldn't even judge the creature to heaven or hell, so the only choice was reincarnation.

Shaking his head and coming back to the present, the judge of the dead answered Gohan's question. "I'm sorry, Gohan, but no," Yemma shook his head. "Freeza is too evil, it will take several lifetimes for him to be able to come back as a good person."

Gohan nodded and looked back at Freeza, who was shouting obscenities and threats. "I hope to see you again one day, Freeza. Goodbye."

With a final, thundering sound, King Yemma stamped Freeza's form. The tyrant faded away into a cloud of colorful sparks, and the hall of judgement became quiet once again. Gohan exhaled in relief and allowed himself a few brief moments of happiness. It worked. Despite everything, the first stage of his plan worked. Somehow.


	16. Interlude, Capsule Corp

(Satan City, the next day, afternoon)

Videl and Erasa just finished their meal and left the restaurant. The two women were standing on the sidewalk outside, saying their goodbyes. "Hey," Erasa said, "maybe we should do something with our families on the weekend, like visit the zoo? It might be fun, and my babies will love to play with Pan again."  
Videl's answer was interrupted by a distant thunder. Gohan suddenly appeared behind his wife and hugged her, causing the young woman to jump in surprise.

"Hey, Erasa," smiled Gohan while holding on to the startled woman. "Sorry for interrupting your get together, but I really have to talk to Videl."

"Sure, Gohan," nodded Erasa, her heart rate slowly returning to normal after Gohan's sudden appearance. His orange gi seemed out of place in the city streets and just added to the strangeness. "See you two later," Erasa waved goodbye. "Call me!"

As the blond woman entered a waiting taxi, Videl turned around in Gohan's arms and looked up into his eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Sure," Gohan nodded. "Let's go somewhere else to talk." The pair flew up and away, leaving behind dozens of bewildered passersby.

(Capsule Corp. HQ, evening)

After a long talk with Videl, Gohan returned to Capsule Corp. The compound was quiet, and the only lights came from inside the main house. Gohan could feel Vegeta training in his gravity chamber, but his first target was in the living room. Jaco's ki was much higher than a normal human's, and seemed extremely similar to the ki of his currently-deceased girlfriend, Mako.

Of course, Gohan had no intention of leaving the galactic capital destroyed. He would use the namekian dragon balls to wish the world back, then use two of Shenron's wishes to bring back all of its inhabitants. After coming back from King Yemma's palace Gohan even destroyed that massive rock formation he had created, to prevent any issues during the world's reconstruction.

Before Gohan had a chance to ring the bell, the door opened from inside and an extremely happy Trunks barreled into him, almost turning super saiyan from excitement. "Gohan! You're alright!" Trunks smiled at the young man, them looked at him in wonder. "This is so strange. I can't feel your ki at all, but there's something else..."

"Hey, Trunks," Gohan smiled, "Umm... can I come in?"

"Oh! Sure, come in." Trunks moved aside to let Gohan pass. "Dad sent me to open the door for you, he wants to see you in the gravity chamber as soon as possible."

"I'll be there in a few, there's someone I need to talk to first."

"Okay," Trunks nodded, still excited to see his older friend. "Later!"

Gohan made his way to the living room, where Bulma and Jaco were sitting on the couch and watching some reality TV show. Both alien cop and blue-haired genius were laughing at the expense of one of the participants when Gohan came in.

"Hey, Gohan!" Bulma smiled. "What's up? Is everything alright?"

"Sort of," Gohan nodded, "but I need to talk to Jaco."

Jaco looked at the young man in surprise. "Oh? What is it?"

Gohan looked away for a moment. These things were never pleasant, but they had to be done. "Jaco, I'm sorry, but I have some bad news."

Bulma looked at Gohan curiously. "Should I go, or.."

Gohan shooked his head. "You can stay if you want, Bulma."

"Well," Jaco asked impatiently, "what is it? The show is getting to the good part."

Jaco took the news relatively well, or perhaps his mask-like face couldn't express a wide range of emotions. After hearing that the galactic capital was destroyed during Gohan's fight with Freeza, he only sat there and looked into the air without moving.

Bulma left to bring him a cold glass of milk, the only thing he consumed, and while she was gone Jaco turned to Gohan and asked "you can bring everyone back, right?"

"Yes," Gohan nodded. "The dragon balls on New Namek will become active again in a few months, and I'm going to wish the world back first. The people will have to wait a little bit longer."

Jaco stood up just as Bulma came back with the milk. "Okay. I have to go set up a quarantine zone, we don't want too many curious bystanders there when the planet pops back into existence, they might be in danger." He emptied the glass in a few quick gulps, then gave it back to Bulma. "Thanks."

"I have something else to ask you," Gohan said. "Did you know that people in the galactic capital were buying planets from Freeza?"

Jaco looked at Gohan for a while, hesitating. "I heard about it, yes. Some higher ups in the king's government had dealings with Freeza over the years."

Gohan's tone became angrier. "So your king or his government actually benefited from all the genocide that was going on?"

"Hey, it had nothing to do with me," Jaco's tone rose as well. "As far as I know Freeza basically forced us to buy from him, it was more like blackmail than anything else."

Gohan noticed that Bulma looked extremely uncomfortable. She opened her mouth to say something, then stopped and looked away.

"What is it, Bulma?" Gohan asked, trying to relax. As was the case with King Yemma, getting angry at Jaco was pointless.

"Well, I don't know if I should say this, but Tights told me a few things about the galactic patrol when we were younger, and now that I think about it they look pretty bad."

"What do you mean?"

"I always thought they were just wacky stories Tights came up with, until now. She told me that Jaco had some kind of biological weapon when he came to Earth the first time, and he was prepared to use it for no good reason. Jaco even said he did use it in the past to kill off an entire world full of people." Bulma turned to Jaco. "But, I mean, that can't be true, right?"

Jaco looked stone-faced as always. "Jaco," Gohan looked down at the slender alien, "is this true?"

"What if it is?" Jaco answered defiantly, "I was doing my job. Some races shouldn't be allowed to live, and you know it."

Bulma lowered her head. "I mean, Vegeta used to be like that, and we forgave him..."

"No," said Gohan icily. "Vegeta grew up under Freeza's rule and knew nothing but war his entire life. He changed, he sacrificed his life to protect others. He's not even remotely similar to the saiyan who came to Earth when I was a child."

"Oh, I get it," said Jaco sarcastically. "So now you're a galactic judge, and you just decide which genocide was alright and which wasn't."

"Jaco..." Bulma said, trying to get her friend to relax. "Stop." How was antagonizing Gohan a good idea?

"I never said that," Gohan answered in anger. "I said Vegeta changed, really changed. How many times did you sacrifice yourself for others, Jaco? You're still exactly the same, you don't even think your people did anything wrong."

"Because they didn't." Jaco looked at Bulma. "Thanks for the milk, Bulma, I'm leaving."

"Yeah," said Bulma, "maybe you should go and everyone can just cool off for a little bit."

Gohan barely held his anger in check, and faint outlines of his aura appeared around his body. "You can leave, Jaco, but the galactic patrol is done. If I hear about any more incidents, I'll hold every galactic patrolman responsible along with the king and his government. After the capital is brought back I'll come visit again, and this time I want to know exactly who bought planets from Freeza and where are they now."

Gohan's aura increased further, now letting off waves of force that shook the entire house. "And if you or anyone else ever threaten Earth again, nothing in this universe will be able to save you."

Jaco gulped, his earlier bravado fading away. Most of his people had trouble reading the emotions of alien races, but Jaco served as a galactic patrolman for decades. He knew what intent to kill looked like.

"Look, maybe you're right," Jaco admitted, "but you're starting a war here. You should know that the galactic patrol has access to very powerful biological weapons, and if you start threatening them at least some of the leaders will want to attack Earth. I'm pretty sure even you and your warrior buddies aren't immune to viruses."

"Jaco," Gohan said sternly, "you have no idea what you're dealing with. Tell them about Majin Buu, Seventeen and Eighteen. Even if Seventeen and his sister somehow die along with the rest of us, how will they stop Buu from destroying them all?"

"Hey, you don't have to convince me," Jaco said defensively, "I'm just telling you what they will probably say. These are very powerful, experienced people, I don't think intimidation will work."

Gohan thought about it for a few moments. "Fine. Thanks for the warning, I'll think about it."

Jaco nodded and left without saying another word. "Gohan," said Bulma, "are you alright? I don't remember you being this angry recently."

"Yes," Vegeta's voice came from the corridor. The older saiyan was smiling. "If you're done shaking my house apart, come with me to the gravity chamber."

"Sorry about that," Gohan apologized to the couple. "I just can't stand people with that attitude."

Vegeta nodded and started walking away, followed closely by Gohan.

(Vegeta's gravity chamber, evening)

The chamber was inactive and bare. All of the different training systems were retracted, and there was plenty of room to just sit and talk. Presently Vegeta and Gohan were sitting next to each other on a bench just inside the entrance.

"So, what happened out there?" asked Vegeta.

"I went to see Freeza." Gohan proceeded to tell Vegeta everything that happened, including Freeza's interrogation at King Yemma's palace and the surprising information it revealed. Vegeta listened patiently throughout the entire story, and revealed his anger only at the very end.

"Beerus told him to destroy the saiyans?!" Vegeta was fuming. "What is that bastard playing at?"

"Freeza couldn't have been lying," said Gohan. "It's impossible for a soul to lie to King Yemma."

"Not Freeza, Beerus." Vegeta was growing angrier by the minute. "And Whis. They trained us, they were our guests, they recruited us to fight for them..." The prince's face was twisted in anger now. "Beerus will pay for this. I don't know if I can defeat him, but I'll make him pay."

"You don't think we're strong enough to take Beerus on?" asked Gohan.

"No," Vegeta shook his head, "not even close. Kakarot in his latest transformation might stand a chance, but your father insists he can't perform it anymore."

Both of them were silent for a few moments, remembering the way Goku's body failed at the end of the tournament.

"What does he want?" Gohan asked. "Why would he do all that? Why keep Freeza's soul intact, why train father and you? What's his goal?"

"I always assumed he was bored and wanted a challenge." The saiyan looked at Gohan as if it was the most obvious thing. "It looked like he was grooming us to be his sparring partners."

Gohan considered it, but something felt wrong. "I don't know, Whis is always there to fight him, and Whis is even more powerful than Beerus."

"True," Vegeta nodded and crossed his arms, thinking. "Perhaps he wants more soldiers for his games with Champa and the other gods."

"That might be it," said Gohan. The gods and their games. Even the stranger in his dream mentioned the divine proclivity for tournaments and competitions.

"There's another option," Vegeta continued, looking at Gohan. "He may be looking for a replacement. Both Whis and Beerus mentioned replacements a few times, and we were all there when that clown god granted Toppo the powers of destruction."

Gohan nodded, thinking it over. It made sense. Beerus seemed to have a special connection to both Goku and Freeza, and, come to think of it, both him and Whis were unusually close to Vegeta and his family.

"He's probably going to be angry that I removed Freeza as candidate, then." Gohan sighed.

"Yes." Vegeta nodded. "We need to train harder than ever to stand a chance against him, in case Beerus decides to attack us." Then the prince frowned. "Except additional training might not help. I've been stuck at this level for a while now, and I can't seem to make any significant improvements. Whis mentioned something about me and Kakarot reaching our limit, and he might have been right."

Vegeta looked at Gohan curiously. "What about you? Do feel you've reached your limit?"

"To be honest, no." Gohan shook his head. "And it's not only that. After the battle with Freeza I realized he was so much better than us at controlling energy. On the way back to Earth I started thinking about it, and maybe we should train like him instead of our usual methods."

"Bah," Vegeta looked disgusted. "Watching him fight alongside Kakarot was one thing, but adopting that lunatic's training methods?"

"I know," said Gohan, "but what choice do we have? If our normal training will only get us so far, we have to improve in other ways. The answer has to be new techniques and better energy control."

Vegeta automatically started going through the options. Fusion was a possibility, but Vegeta absolutely detested the idea. The forced intimacy and loss of privacy were nightmarish prospects, not to mention that horrible, humiliating dance. Still, the effects of fusion were significant, it might serve as a power boost in emergencies. Kakarot's kaioken was out of the question, as was the great and mighty "ultra instinct". Both of these forms of fighting were incredibly self-destructive, and while Kakarot would jump at the opportunity to damage himself, Vegeta usually favored a more stable fighting style.

Suddenly, a familiar sound heralded Goku's teleportation into the gravity chamber.

"Hey, Vegeta, hey Gohan!" said Goku cheerfully.

"Kakarot!" Vegeta exclaimed angrily, startled by his rival's appearance at the exact moment he was thinking about him. "What makes you think you can just teleport into people's houses like that?!"

"Come on, Vegeta. I just wanted to say hello to Gohan."

"Hey, dad" Gohan smiled. Somehow his mood always improved when his father started performing his usual antics. Gohan and Vegeta proceeded to tell Goku about what happened, pausing every once in a while to answer his questions.

"I'm not happy about the way you treated King Yemma," said Goku, "but what's done is done. Can you show us what you meant when Freeza used his ki in a strange way? You said Freeza had very little ki inside that cocoon, but somehow still managed to do things with it."

Vegeta grunted in annoyance. Of course Kakarot wouldn't care about Beerus' encounter with Freeza decades ago, and go straight to the parts that involved training.

"I don't think I can," Gohan shook his head. "I can't suppress my energy that low and still use it with that level of precision. But we can try meditating again, I'm pretty sure I can show you what he did in an image training session."

A few hours later, Bulma came down to the gravity chamber to see how Vegeta was doing. He usually came to bed at this hour, it was strange for him to still be training. The gravity chamber was unlocked and inactive, and when Bulma opened the door she was surprised to see Goku, Vegeta and Gohan in deep meditation. All three were sweating, obviously exerting immense effort, and completely oblivious. Sighing, Bulma went to the kitchen, brought back several bottles of water and left them in the chamber. The three warriors looked like they were going to be at it for a while.


	17. Interlude, Dende's Lookout

Recreating Freeza's feat of energy control proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. Freeza could control very small amounts of his ki in an environment that was, to him, the worst possible place to meditate in. While Gohan found it easy to show the others what he felt when Freeza was in King Yemma's hall, actually performing the feat was an impossible task. Eventually Goku, Vegeta and Gohan gave up for the night and went their separate ways, although Gohan promised the older men he'd come up with a good way to train like Freeza did.

Videl was happy to have Gohan around the house for a few days, even if he spent most of his time meditating, training and researching. These few days passed quickly, however, and eventually Gohan returned to Capsule Corp. HQ to talk to Bulma. Like many times in the past, Bulma was the one who solved their problem.

Bulma used to smoke when she needed to think, until Vegeta got angry and demanded she put a stop to it. She was used to winning most of their arguments, but this time he refused to surrender. Vegeta even began destroying any cigarettes she bought or sneaked in, until she admitted defeat.

"So," Bulma sighed in annoyance and flexed her smoking hand uselessly, "you need to have almost no ki in your system, and somehow manipulate it without losing focus?"

"Yes," Gohan was pacing, deep in thought. "The problem is that we can't really power down that low, and even if we could there's no way to maintain mental focus. Every little distraction completely ruins whatever you're trying to do. I still don't understand how Freeza did it."

Gohan stopped and looked at Bulma. "The easy part is powering down. We need to fire of a continuous energy attack for as long as possible, until we're exhausted. Since it's too dangerous to do it on Earth or in space, we could do it in the hyperbolic time chamber if we tone it down a bit. But then what? When you're that exhausted you can't really concentrate, and every little noise or movement disrupts your focus. I even popped back to King Yemma's palace and asked if he could put us in one of the cocoons he used on Freeza, but Yemma said it won't work on us since we're alive."

He neglected to mention that when his father heard Yemma's answer, Goku actually suggested they kill themselves. This led to a prolonged and excessively violent sparring session with Vegeta, after which Goku admitted this might not be a good idea.

"Hmm..." Bulma had plenty of ideas, but most of them involved injecting, inhaling or drinking various substances that affected the brain. She couldn't see Goku, Vegeta or Gohan agreeing to any of that, especially when it came to Goku and injections. There was only one solution left.

"What about isolation tanks?" asked the blue-haired woman. "We have sensory deprivation equipment in one of our labs, you can jump in after you lower your energy. The most difficult problem you'll have is not falling asleep."

Gohan's eyes opened in surprise. He was so busy looking into magical or meditation techniques that he neglected technological solutions. "Of course! Bulma, that's perfect! Is there any way to bring the gear up to the lookout?"

"Sure," Bulma said, "It's going to take a day or two to set everything up." She looked at Gohan and smiled, "I swear, what would you saiyans do without me?"

(Dende's lookout, morning, a few days later)

Gohan and Piccolo stood on the lookout's edge and looked at the horizon for a while. The half-saiyan arrived a few minutes earlier and delivered some high-quality vegetarian sushi to Mr. Popo, along with an apology for neglecting the rotund genie during the day of the ritual. Behind them, near the temple entrance, were six large, metallic tanks, currently open and empty. Each tank had been set up with its own control equipment, and the entire assembly looked completely out of place on the white tiles of the lookout floor. Gohan's training plan would soon go into action, but the young man wanted to talk to Piccolo privately before that.

"Piccolo, I have a problem."

Piccolo looked at the isolation tanks for a moment before turning back to Gohan. "Is it about those things?"

"No, no," Gohan shook his head, "a totally different problem. See, I was talking to Jaco about his galactic patrol, and it turns out they sometimes destroy entire planets with biological weapons. Even worse, his government used to buy planets from Freeza. I can't allow any of that to continue, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I mean, I don't want to spend the rest of my days watching everything they do, but I'm not going to destroy them either."

"Why come to me with this?" asked the puzzled Piccolo. "Let me remind you, my father was the one who wanted to rule the world, I'm not interested in rulers and armies. And if you're asking me if it's alright to interfere with their actions, I'm not a moral authority on that either." He paused for a moment, then continued, frowning. Gohan knew all this already. "Wait, you already came up with a solution, didn't you? And it involves me somehow."

Gohan smiled and nodded.

"My problem is that there's a police force out there in space, an entire government, who are basically civilized versions of Freeza. They are much less brutal than him most of the time, but they still use terrible weapons and the only thing they respect is overwhelming strength. Take a look at Jaco, for example."

Piccolo grunted, he didn't really like the short alien, but one had to respect Jaco's knowledge and highly developed senses. "What about him?"

"He originally came to Earth years ago, and his mission was to bascially murder my father while he was still a baby." Gohan put all the pieces together after talking to Tights, Bulma's sister. "During his visit he casually threatened to extreminate humanity a few times. And he's supposedly a 'super-elite', whatever that means, the best they have to offer."

Piccolo considered this while Gohan continued. "He did saved Tights' life, though, but you see what I mean."

"How can I help you with this?" Piccolo asked, once again puzzled.

"Well..." Gohan gathered his courage for a few moments, and finally just blurted out the question. "How would you like to become the guardian of our galaxy?"

Piccolo mouth and eyes opened wide. "What?!"

"I'm serious. Everyone else is either too weak, not responsible enough or not a good candidate for other reasons."

"Gohan, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"Why is it so ridiculous? Your... umm... original parent... became Earth's guardian, why can't you become the guardian of the galactic capital?"

"Why do you assume I want to become a guardian?" Piccolo smirked.

Gohan stopped and considered his answer. "You're one of Earth's most dedicated protectors. You died for Earth and risked your life for the world more times than I can count, and you did that even when your father's memories and goals were fresh in your mind."

"Earth is my home," Piccolo admitted after a few moments of silence. "I don't want to rule over it like I once did, but I also don't want to leave. My legacy is here, with you and your family. I will train Pan, if you allow it, as I trained you, and as I trained Goten when Buu was threatening the world."

Gohan nodded, touched by Piccolo's words. "To be honest, me and Videl have been worried about you ever since Pan was born."

"Worried? About me?" asked the surprised Piccolo, "why?"

"Well... it's not easy to talk about, but... we both feel you should have your own legacy." Gohan took a long breath and continued, "we don't want you to be just a teacher for our children. You're always meditating on the lookout or visiting us, and we both think you can do more."

Piccolo frowned. "Wait, what are you saying?"

"It's not just about being a the galactic guardian," said Gohan. "Me and Videl think you should have children of your own."

Gohan was extremely relieved to finally bring this up. He and his wife have been talking about Piccolo for years now, but whenever Gohan or Videl tried to bring it up, the awkwardness of the situation prevented them from talking. This time was different, though. Gohan had to find a solution that could save billions of lives, and there was no more room for awkwardness and shame.

"If you were human," Gohan smiled, "we'd be setting you up with Videl's single friends until you got married to one of them."

Piccolo was too stunned to talk. He never even considered creating offspring, and it was not a topic of discussion he was prepared for. Coupled with Gohan's idea about becoming the guardian of the entire galaxy, the tall namekian was left completely speechless.

"Look," Gohan continued, "namekians were a spacefaring race in the past, so dealing with galactic affairs isn't that strange. But it's more than that. As far as I know every namekian on New Namek is one of Guru's children or grandchildren. There are so few of them, and they're all determined to follow Guru's dream of turning their world into a forest paradise. You're the only one who isn't part of Guru's... tribe? Nation? I don't really know what the best word is. What if what you're missing is an entirely new legacy for you and your offspring? Why not create a new namekian nation whose legacy is to be galactic guardians?"

Gohan looked down, slightly embarrassed after his long speech. "I know it sounds cynical to bring this up when I need something from you, but I really have been thinking about this for a while. What's happening now is more of an excuse to finally talk to you about it, it all seems to fit together somehow..." Gohan trailed off and left the rest unsaid: _As if it was your destiny_.

"Gohan..." Piccolo managed to speak after a few moments. "Becoming a guardian means being a part of the... hierarchy of gods. It means the gods have to agree to this."

"I'm sure the gods won't have any problems with it," Gohan answered. He was relieved that Piccolo was even considering his proposal. "But even if they do, you can be a guardian in the mundane sense of the word, a protector. The main idea is to keep the galactic government from doing brutal things like they used to, it just has to stop."

Piccolo examined Gohan for a long while. "I need to think about this," he said eventually. "You gave me plenty of things to consider and these aren't decisions that can be taken lightly."

The two continued to stand there for a few more minutes, comfortable in each other's company. Soon the others arrived, not just Goku and Vegeta but also Tien and Krillin. Gohan had invited the rest of the warriors to try the training, but only Piccolo, Tien and Krillin were interested. Seventeen said he might give it a try if the others succeeded.

Something was apparently wrong with Buu, and the majin seemed to ignore Mr. Satan when the champion asked if Buu wanted to go to the lookout. This behavior was unusual, and Gohan promised Satan to try and help their friend. Any drastic change in behavior was a reason to worry, especially when that person had enough power to be considered a universal threat.

After a short session of image training to show Krillin, Tien and Piccolo the basic idea, the group entered the time chamber and began firing their energies into the distance. Tien became exhausted first, followed by Krillin and then Piccolo, and ,much later, Gohan, Vegeta and Goku. Gohan became exhausted before the other two, so Vegeta and Goku were the only ones who remained standing. The two saiyans refused to give up, both holding on as much as possible, but ultimately Vegeta failed first. Every collapsed warrior was escorted to a tank by Mr. Popo, who also turned the tanks on and closed the cover.

It took them a few hours of frustrating failure before Vegeta figured out how to control whatever ki he had left and recreate the strange patterns of ki Freeza had used. The prince then smugly invited the others to examine him with their ki senses so they could see what he was doing, and after that they all returned to their tanks to do it themselves. Gohan assumed Vegeta's skills were slightly higher because of the way he had achieved his mastered blue form, but there was no way to tell for sure. Piccolo and Tien were the next ones to master whatever inner ki they had left, followed by Gohan himself and then Krillin.

To Gohan's surprise, Goku couldn't do it. The exhausted saiyan kept falling asleep in his tank, and even when he didn't fall asleep he just couldn't muster up the necessary focus. It was much easier, relatively speaking, to divert and control the chaotic energies of the kaioken, than to calmly and precisely control a few wisps of inner ki while having only that tiny amount of ki to work with..

Much later, after resting for a little bit, the warriors met outside the temple. Vegeta looked at the disappointed Goku with an expression of supreme smugness, but said nothing. Unlike many of their battles before, this was a definite victory for the prince, and he was gracious enough to only rub it in non-verbally.

"Oh well," Goku shrugged, after a while, "I guess I'll just have to master ultra instinct again."

"What?!" Vegeta's expression changed from smug to annoyed at record speed. "I thought you said you couldn't do it anymore, Kakarot!"

"That's right," Goku nodded and smiled at Vegeta. "But that doesn't mean I can't try."

Vegeta almost snarled in annoyance, then nodded to the rest and flew away. This form of training was very different from anything he had experienced so far, but he felt confident that it might unlock some hidden power or advantage. Was that enough to compete against Kakarot in his ultra instinct state? Vegeta will just have to prove that it was. The possibility that Goku won't be able to master ultra instinct again never even occurred to him.

Tien nodded to the others. "I think I'll leave as well, but I'll come back until I can train without the isolation tanks. I don't think this will improve my strength, but I might be able to come up with some new techniques."

"Same here," said Krillin. "This might have some surprising uses later on."

Krillin and Goku left soon after Tien, leaving only Piccolo and Gohan outside the temple entrance.

"So," Gohan began awkwardly, "did you get a chance to think about what I said?"

Piccolo remained silent for a while, looking away into the distance. Eventually he turned to look at Gohan. "Yes. I'll do it."

"Really? That's great!" Gohan smiled at his friend.

Piccolo nodded. "I have to visit New Namek for a while, though."

"Oh?" Gohan looked at Piccolo curiously, but decided not to ask why. Some matters were too private to be shared. "I'm sure dad can take you there, no problem. Elder Moori wanted to see Dende, too." Gohan enjoyed the late afternoon breeze for a few moments, then continued. "Well, it's time for me to leave. See you again tomorrow, Piccolo. We'll talk specifics later."

"Gohan," said Piccolo, then paused. Gohan was the first earthling that made him realize he was not a monster, and now, years later, the young man made him realize that something else was missing. In the dark silence of the isolation chamber Piccolo felt his loneliness more acutely than ever before, and it made him see rifts in his life that needed to be bridged. Gohan was right. Pan was not his own child, and acting as her godfather was not a true way to make his life whole. He had a lot to say about forging a legacy, ignoring one's true nature and their long years of friendship, but eventually condensed it into one word.

"Thanks."


	18. Interlude, King Kai's Planet

(Otherworld, some time later)

Gohan's voyage along Snake Way was surprisingly short, but he still had time to stretch his senses and attempt to understand how Otherworld worked. To Gohan, it seemed that the world of the dead was an unimaginably large, universe-sized planet. Hell was the earth below the clouds, an incomprehensibly massive expanse of rock that extended far, far deeper beyond the surface. King Yemma warned Gohan not to go beneath the cloud layer, so the young man couldn't see how hell looked from above, but his ki sense told him it was a relatively flat plane that extended into infinity. A billion people could be thrown into a relatively small area of hell and never come across each other. As it was, Gohan sensed a mind-boggling number of souls down there, and they were muted in a strange way, perhaps their ki was limited so they could be restrained.

Above the various realms of hell lay a border-realm of yellow clouds and floating islands, comparable to Earth's atmosphere. King Yemma's palace was built on one such island, for example.

Far above the clouds was Heaven, a colorful void comparable to outer space in the mortal realms. Heaven was mostly empty, like outer space, but held a large number of relatively small planets, with clouds of colorful energies floating between them. Gohan couldn't sense any dead souls in heaven, which was curious, but some of the planets did hold life. In the mostly empty reaches of Heaven it was easy to sense three small ki signatures relatively close to the hall of judgement – Gohan assumed these were King Kai, Bubbles and Gregory, and headed there.

He flew over snake way while sensing his environment, then rose up into the void and accelerated into space-flight. He could sense Shin and Elder Kai on their planet, far, far away, and there were many more concentrations of ki elsewhere in the void of Heaven. Unfortunately Gohan had no time to explore, he was here to meet King Kai and ask for the god's help.

After getting all this power, there was nothing he wanted more than to explore existence and catalog all its wonders, perhaps helping his scientist friends to verify various theories, bring all sorts of sensors and recording equipment to alien stars and planets... but abandoning his quest now would be an extremely selfish thing to do.

During his flight Gohan thought about how strange it was that his father could extend his senses into otherworld so easily. Gohan couldn't sense the mortal universe no matter how hard he tried, and the only thing he could sense from back home was that strange, fleeting ki signature that appeared as a result of Porunga's wish. There was something unique about Goku that allowed him to perform impossible feats, and Gohan had no idea what it was.

Overall the entire journey across Snake Way took about thirty minutes, and the only living things Gohan encountered during the crossing were a cleaning truck and a floating palace apparently full of female ogres. The half-saiyan ignored all these distractions and sped along until he reached King Kai's tiny planet.

After landing, Gohan noted the increased gravity and marveled at the close horizon. The short, rotund form of King Kai was immediately visible under his car – the god of the north was busy tampering with his precious red vehicle along with Bubbles the monkey. Gohan came closer and coughed politely.

"Huh?" King Kai crawled out from underneath the car and looked at Gohan curiously. "Gohan? What are you doing here?" The small god stood up and dusted himself while Bubbles joined him.

"Hello, King Kai," Gohan bowed in respect. The short god was a part of the failing system Gohan detested, but at the same time King Kai helped save Earth again and again, even dying in the process. He earned Gohan's respect. "I need your help."

"Oh? What can I help you with?" King Kai gave Gohan a puzzled look, his antenae twitching. Something seemed... off about Gohan ever since his ritual, but up close he could feel waves of authority radiating from the half-saiyan, as if he was... a supreme kai. The god's eyes widened beneath his dark sunglasses, but he quickly masked his surprise and it looked like Gohan didn't notice his reaction. "Do you want me to teach you the kaioken? It's quite a useful technique, if I do say so myself."

"No, King Kai," Gohan shook his head. "I... well, I need you to teach me how to use the power of creation."

This time there was no hiding the surprise. "What?!"

"Well," Gohan continued, feeling slightly awkward. Explaining his transformation felt strange. "A few weeks ago I underwent the super saiyan god ritual. After the ritual was complete I.. received the ability to create, like the gods do. Later on I used it in combat, but I still don't know how to control it precisely and I can only use it when I'm very angry."

"I see, I see," said King Kai. The rotund god started to pace while thinking, followed closely by Bubbles, who was mimicking his master's every movement. Gohan smiled at the monkey's antics and waited patiently. A few moments later, King Kai turned back to Gohan and angrily shooed Bubbles away.

"I usually require my students to make me laugh," King Kai sighed, "but I think I'll make an exception for you. Let me clean up a little, I'll be right back."

A few minutes later King Kai appeared again, shiny and refreshed. "Would you like something to eat or drink first?"

"No," Gohan shook his head, "thank you. I want to begin training as soon as possible."

 _A child of Goku who isn't always hungry_ , thought King Kai to himself, _things must really be serious_. "Very well," he sighed, "can you please show me what you can do? I need to know what I have to work with."

Gohan looked away, embarrassed. "Alright, but... right now I can do it only when I'm angry, so please don't think I'm going to attack you."

"Oh," King Kai nodded, already trained in evading the power of angry saiyan warriors. The short god ran inside the house, hid behind the round wall and peeped at Gohan from inside the entrance. "Please, go ahead."

Gohan nodded and closed his eyes. He concentrated on his anger towards Beerus and Freeza, all those lives destroyed and twisted by violent and uncaring gods. His aura immediately flared and expanded, radiating immense power and causing the entire tiny world to be buffeted by powerful winds. Gohan's rage increased more and more, and after a few moments his aura began to shift color, from white to purple-pink with a red outline. His hair changed as well, rising up and turning into a pale pastel-pink.

He had to do this quickly, since calming down would prevent him from using creation. Gohan knew how he looked when he was in this state and hated intimidating King Kai, but there was no other way. Before his anger could melt away, Gohan shouted and pointed up into the sky.

A few moments later King Kai came out of the house, Gohan's aura fading back to white and then evaporating completely. The young man's raw power was staggering, similar to that of Goku and far, far greater than the divine energy of any supreme kai King Kai had ever sensed.

"Sorry for the outburst," Gohan apologized, "I really can't create anything unless I'm very angry."

King Kai stared into the sky of his little world, nodding. A massive asteroid now hovered near the small planet, eclipsing it in size. It was brown-gray, and full of jagged edges, broken peaks and deep fissures.

"Umm... not bad for a beginner," said King Kai after a few moments of examining Gohan's creation. "It's much less dense than my own planet... looks like it's a massive rock from Earth. Not bad, not bad..." King Kai continued, thinking to himself.

Gohan's creation talent was unbelievably powerful, but raw and untrained. He had expended an immense amount of energy to create this simple, relatively low-density rock. If King Kai had access to the same amount of energy, he could have created a much bigger object, or perhaps much denser or more complex. Also, expending that much energy didn't seem to tire Gohan at all, which meant that his potential for creation was far beyond anything King Kai had ever experienced. Still, Gohan would have to learn to visualize his creation perfectly and expend energy in a more efficient manner. The last and most important aspect of creation was something else, something King Kai never expected any mortal to possess.

"Gohan..." King Kai lifted his hand, attempting to unmake Gohan's asteroid, but nothing happened. "Oh!" he exclaimed and looked at Gohan in surprise.

"What is it, King Kai?" Gohan asked.

"Err, I need you to unmake this rock you created."

"Unmake?" Gohan asked, "What do you mean?"

King Kai cleared his throat and took a deep breath, automatically going into his teacher mode. "You see, newly created objects can still be unmade by other gods. Unmaking is essentially undoing the act of creation. It takes some time before objects... well, become real enough to be considered permanent, and after that period they cannot be unmade or modified anymore, only destroyed by force. However, a god can't unmake objects that were created by a god of higher rank... and, well, your rank seems to be higher than my own." King Kai coughed in embarrassment, as talking openly about ranks was considered impolite. He guessed it was fine if he was a teacher explaining it to his student, but Gohan was a mortal, he wasn't supposed to be able to create at all, let alone at a higher rank than King Kai. The entire situation was impossible.

Unlike many of the god's recent students, Gohan was completely focused on King Kai's words, not missing a thing. It actually made King Kai feel a little uncomfortable. Apparently he was used to Goku's more lax attitude and instinctive learning.

"You mentioned modification?" asked Gohan.

"Oh, yes," King Kai explained, "It's the same principle as undoing, really, only instead of making an object vanish you simply change its attributes. Any god can modify the creations of another before the object becomes permanent, but it's more polite to ask for permission first. And if the creating god is of higher rank, they have to give their permission to the modifying god or the modification won't work."

"I see, thank you." Gohan nodded and looked toward his newly created asteroid. "So you want me to unmake this rock? Can't I just give you permission to do it?"

"No," King Kai shook his head, "unmaking can only be done by gods of the same rank or higher. Although even if you can unmake something, it's always more civilized to ask for permission first."

"I wonder who made all these rules up..." Gohan muttered, but King Kai heard him.

"Hmm, things were always this way, I guess."

Gohan nodded. "Well, I'll try to... umm... unmake it."

Gohan's aura started to flicker, but King Kai quickly shouted "Wait!".

"What is it, King Kai?" Gohan looked at the god curiously.

"Try to do it without transforming." King Kai pointed toward the gigantic rock.

Gohan nodded. "I'll try." The young man took a deep breath and looked at the asteroid he created. His eyes closed as he concentrated on King Kai's request, and his aura started flaring. The wind flowing away from his body started to pick up speed, causing King Kai to lean forward or risk falling on his back.

Gohan gave up after a minute of concentration, his aura vanished and the wind suddenly stopped. The surprised King Kai fell forward, then was helped up by Gohan.

"Nothing, eh?" King Kai straightened his clothes after Gohan helped him stand.

"No," Gohan shook his head. "I can't feel anything, it's just not working. You want me to destroy it with an energy blast?"

"No, no" said King Kai hurriedly. "We're trying to practice here. Let me tell you what I think is happening. You have more than enough power, obviously, and your mental focus is good enough. What you lack is conviction."

"Conviction?" asked the puzzled Gohan. "You mean, faith in myself?"

"Thats part of it," nodded King Kai, "but only one part. Let me ask you something before I explain it. What is a god?"

"Umm... well, theologicians and philosophers on Earth have many answers to that question, but from personal experience I can say that gods are powerful beings with amazing techniques. They probably have attributes I don't know about, though."

"Exactly," King Kai said. "There are attributes you don't know about. Gods aren't just creatures of great power, they're an integral part of how the universe works. Gods are a living embodiment of the concept of creation. To create something Gods not only have to have energy and willpower, they also have to realize that they are creation and creation is them. They have to visualize what they are creating and divert their personal energy to the act of creation, but they also have to feel the purpose of what they create. They must have no doubts about that purpose, it must be crystal clear in their minds."

King Kai pointed at a patch of ground nearby, and a massive square plate of gray metal appeared on the ground, crushing the grass with its weight. It was at least 10 feet on each side, one inch thick and completely featureless.

"See how the metal plate is crushing the grass?" King Kai pointed at the smooth metallic object. "I want you to to unmake the plate. Concentrate, draw out your energy, and visualize the plate vanishing. This time, however, I want you to feel the need to restore the grass, to remove all that weight so the grass won't be crushed."

"I'll... I'll try," Gohan hesitated, then remembered what King Kai said about permission. "Oh, may I unmake your creation, King Kai?"

 _How polite, he actually remembered!_ King Kai smiled and nodded. "Of course, Gohan. Go ahead."

This time only a faint outline of his aura appeared, and Gohan didn't close his eyes. After a few moments of concentration, the metal plate vanished into thin air.

"Very good, Gohan!" King Kai cheered. "You're a natural at this."

"Thank you, King Kai," Gohan smiled. The unmaking was actually surprisingly easy, although it did require a great amount of energy. It was still nothing to Gohan, but he could have destroyed that metal plate by using a fraction of the energy that was required to unmake it.

"Gods are living beings," King Kai started explaining. _How different from Goku_ , thought the small god. Gohan was completely focused, absorbing everything King Kai had to say. Despite all of Gohan's skill and power, he was completely in his element during these pauses for theoretical explanations. "All actions of a living being have a purpose, or a deeper meaning, they are not just mechanical movements. When living beings look at the world around them, they don't see a bunch of dry and boring materials, they see a green forest on a mountain slope, for example. The universe doesn't know what are forests or mountains, or what the color green is. These are concepts that living beings use to describe the universe. So when gods create, it's not just about material appearing from nothing, it's also about ideas, purpose and concepts.

"I still remember my own teacher, old North Kai," King Kai paused for a few moments, reliving the past. "He used a great metaphor to explain it. He said to me "you are the lens through which the universe sees itself". Such a poet he was."

Gohan nodded, slightly curious about the former god of the north. What King Kai described was a basic concept in Earth philosophy, but Gohan never expected it to have any sort of practical application. No matter how theoretical it sounded, when the purpose of his action was strong in his thoughts, there was a very clear difference in how the creation felt, or the unmaking, in this case.

"King Kai," said Gohan, causing the god to snap out of his reverie and come back to the present. "Why could I create when I was angry?"

"Hmm," King Kai started pacing again, deep in thought. "I guess it was because you had a very clear purpose. Probably combat, to use as a weapon, right?"

"You're right, I did have a purpose." Gohan thought about the moment he attempted to bring back the galactic capital after Freeza destroyed the planet. The purpose was clear in his mind, but his anger made it impossible to visualize correctly. Gohan wasn't sure he could visualize something like an entire planet appearing from nothing, even when he was perfectly calm. In contrast, he could visualize those deadly, sharp spears of stone all too well.

"Ahem," King Kai coughed and made Gohan focus. "You may be very talented, but you're still just a beginner. Your technique is very inefficient, and you're still at a very basic level when it comes to visualizing what you're creating." King Kai pointed at the asteroid again, then looked up at Gohan and smiled. "Try to unmake that thing, then I'll show you where you need to improve."

[ **Author's Note** : A guest reviewer asked if Gohan cares about the universe in general, or just his own galaxy. Short answer: Gohan does care about the entire universe, but he believes training to fight the gods is more important than exploring the other galaxies right now.

Gohan's full speed is something like 15,000 light years per hour on average, which is absolutely ridiculous. In real life, the distance to the closest galaxy (Andromeda) is 2.5 million (2,500,000) light years. Even if Gohan could fly there without resting at all, the intergalactic trip would take an entire week. And we don't actually know if the galaxies of Dragon Ball are closer or more distant. Remember, Gohan acts based on the assumption that his time is limited.

Also, Gohan assumes all of the most powerful mortals in Universe 7 are in his own galaxy. So even if there are powerful villains in the other ones, they probably aren't as much of a threat to the beings who live there.

And last, Gohan is preparing himself to eventually challenge the gods, and he sees the gods - like Beerus - as a threat to the entire universe, not just Earth's galaxy. So Gohan does care about the other galaxies as well, but practical issues of time of distance prevent him from doing anything about them at this point.]


	19. Interlude, Star and Mountain Pool

(Unnamed neutron star, months later)

In a distant area of the galaxy, Gohan hovered above a strange celestial body and thought about the last few months. The gang had separated, each warrior engaged in his own training. They had all mastered Freeza's ki control techniques to the point where they didn't need Bulma's isolation chambers anymore, and then continued to train on their own. Once every few weeks they would meet and spar, their mock combat taking place high up in the atmosphere to avoid collateral damage.

Goku found himself unable to recover the ultra-instinct state, and went to Bulma for help. The blue-haired scientist ran some tests and discovered Goku had actual nerve damage in his back. His Saiyan biology somehow healed around the damaged nerves, but without them Goku's body couldn't go back to what it once was. This caused quite a stir, and Bulma suggested trying to fix the issue with surgery. Goku and Chi Chi considered it for a while, but eventually decided to try and wish the damage away.

Eventually the namekian dragon balls became active again, and Gohan, Goku and Piccolo returned to New Namek, together with Dende. Goku asked the dragon to repair his damaged nerves, and Gohan asked Porunga to bring back the galactic capital. The three warriors left the third wish for the namekians, and when Gohan and Piccolo asked Goku if he could use ultra instinct again, Goku only smiled and said maybe.

Gohan and his father returned to Earth to continue their training, while Piccolo and Dende remained on new namek. Weeks later the powerful namekian contacted Gohan telepathically to tell him they were ready, and Gohan asked his father to bring Piccolo and Dende back to Earth. Gohan also flew to the galactic capital and back just to make sure everything was alright, and it turned out the galactic patrol had closed off the entire system. The normally confrontational patrolmen were too stunned by the sudden appearance of the planet to argue with Gohan when he arrived. The young half-saiyan simply told them they could not use their apocalyptic weapons anymore, and that a guardian will arrive soon to watch over their worlds.

It was then that Gohan began looking for the star he was currently hovering above. It took him a few hours of research to pinpoint its location, and a few more to reach its actual location. The gravity here was extreme, far beyond anything that could be produced by Bulma's gravity chamber. Even Shenron's wish couldn't protect him from the cosmic fury of a neutron star, and Gohan had to rely on his own ki to stay alive, even at a considerable distance away from the star itself. His first training session there lasted less than five minutes, after which he was forced to fly back to Earth, slightly humbled, and come back with a bag of Korin's senzu beans.

After a week of shadow sparring in the chaotic environment, he was finally strong enough to fly down to the neutron star's surface. Sight had no meaning here, the gravity was so powerful it curved light itself and made everything look like a confused jumble of colors. Gohan had to rely on his ki senses, and even those were stretched to their limit. Fighting back the horrendous gravity that threatened to tear his body apart, Gohan hovered a few feet above the surface and meditated.

Tien had nicknamed Freeza's ki exercise "herding the mist serpent", and the name stuck. The mist serpent represented the tiny amount of ki controlled by the warrior, and was a theoretical snake made entirely out of of mist. The mist serpent only lived in mist, representing ki. Those unfamiliar with it could never see it, unless all the surrounding mist was removed. And even then it was a tiny, delicate thing, barely even there. Without extreme focus one couldn't even detect it, and the slightest mistake or moment of carelessness caused it to evaporate.

Now, hovering above the unimaginably alien surface of a neutron star, Gohan fought to visualize the elusive mist serpent in his mind. It was an extremely difficult task. He didn't need the isolation chamber anymore, that was true, but this hellish environment demanded his full concentration simply to survive.

After an entire week of meditating on the surface, Gohan was down to the last Senzu bean and still couldn't summon the mist serpent. Then came a telepathic contact from Piccolo, and Gohan nearly dropped his ki shield in surprise. The resulting pain forced him to focus, but the sudden restoration of his shield took too much out of him. It was all he could do to pop the last senzu in his mouth and hold back the deadly gravity while his energy regenerated. Deciding that enough was enough, Gohan flew far away into space, finally relaxing in the mercifully empty and mostly gravity-less vacuum.

"Gohan!" Piccolo's telepathic voice was worried. "Are you alright?!"

"Yes, I'm fine." Gohan looked back at the deceptively tiny star he left behind. "Had a little incident there, but I'm okay. How about you?"

"I've... put into practice what I learned on New Namek. Come back to Earth, meet me at the mountain pool I told you about."

"Sure! I had enough training for now anyway," Gohan stretched his sore limbs. "See you in a few hours."

(Earth, mountain pool, late morning)

Gohan made it back to Earth and returned home. After a quick shower and a meal with Videl and Pan, he headed out towards Piccolo's ki signature. A few minutes later he arrived at a clear mountain pool, peaceful and surrounded by trees. Despite being relatively close to the hot springs below, the area was completely pristine.

"Piccolo, hey!" Gohan saw Piccolo on the ground, standing near the pool's edge. He landed gently next to the tall namekian.

"Gohan," Piccolo nodded.

"So..." Gohan looked around. "What's this about? You wanted to spar?"

"No," Piccolo shook his head. "I wanted to introduce you to my offspring."

"What? Really?! Congratulations, Piccolo! Wait until I tell Videl about this!"

"Gohan!" Piccolo raised his voice. "Stop, please. Don't tell anyone for now."

"Oh," said the surprised Gohan. "Well, sure. Where is the baby, anyway?"

"Baby..." Piccolo said disapprovingly. "There is no baby."

Responding to Piccolo's telepathic message, a young namekian stepped out from behind a tree and approached the two warriors. He wore Piccolo's signature purple gi and weighted white cape, but no turban. Gohan stared at the tall, slender youth in shock. Piccolo's offspring was only slightly shorter than Videl. And beyond his height, Gohan couldn't feel him at all when he arrived, which meant the young namekian already had full control of his ki and could suppress his energy! Now that Gohan was aware of his presence, he could sense a deep, powerful well of ki inside the child. Piccolo was right, this was no baby.

The young namekian stood there and looked at Piccolo. "Go ahead," Piccolo nodded, "introduce yourself."

"Hello, sir," the youngling said with steady tone and bowed politely. "My name is Chell, and I am the offspring of Elder Piccolo."

"Elder, eh? Well, nice to meet you, Chell," Gohan smiled and bowed as well. "How old are you?"

Chell looked at Piccolo again, who nodded. "I was born two days ago, sir."

"What?" the stunned Gohan looked at Piccolo. "How can he be so young? He looks older than Goten!"

Piccolo smiled at Gohan's reaction. With some pride, he said "the way namekians create offspring is more like a ki technique than a... biological function. I have perfected that technique."

"That's amazing," Gohan turned back to Chell. "Your ki control is great, kid. Good job."

"Thanks!" Chell's seriousness broke for a moment as he smiled at the compliment, but the child quickly went back to imitating his father. "Err... I mean, thank you, sir."

Gohan laughed. "Please don't call me sir, Gohan is fine."

"Very well, s... I mean, Gohan." Chell said, slightly embarassed.

Gohan looked at Piccolo curiously. "How strong is he, Piccolo?"

Piccolo smirked. "He's stronger than Freeza was when your father used the spirit bomb back on Namek, but I don't know by how much."

"Wow..." Gohan eyes were wide open. "I had no idea namekians could be this powerful, other than you."

"So did I. There's a lot we don't know about namekians. A lot that was forgotten."

Gohan nodded and thought for a few moments. "Piccolo, lets introduce Chell to Videl. I don't think you should keep him a secret, and the moment he powers up everyone will notice him anyway."

Piccolo sighed. "Alright. Lets go to your house, then. But please don't invite any of the others."

"No problem," Gohan nodded and turned to Chell. "Do you know how to fly?"

Chell nodded. "Yes, Gohan."

"Great. Lets go!"

The three rose up and sped away.


	20. Guardians, Part I

_One year later, King Yemma's palace_

King Yemma was nervous despite dwarfing the group of mortals who stood before him. Piccolo, the namekian, looked up at him with an impatient frown. Behind Piccolo stood seven young namekians only slightly smaller than him. All of them looked up at Yemma with respect, which the gigantic ogre appreciated. That was how mortals should act when talking to gods, not like the last member of the group.

Gohan, son of Goku, looked up at him with a neutral, almost absentminded expression. He appeared to be thinking about something else. While King Yemma was waiting for Gohan to speak, the great hall of the Judge of Souls was silent, except for the "whoosh" sounds emanating from the dead souls who waited for their turn at the entrance, the tiny echoes of their movements carrying throughout the hall. Eventually Yemma coughed, calling Gohan to attention.

"Oh, sorry," the half saiyan apologized, shaking his head and clearing his mind. He had been training this entire time, maintaining a tiny wisp of ki and moving it throughout his body in precise, serpentine movements using only the power of his will. In fact, he kept maintaining the mist serpent exercise while talking, a feat of concentration and discipline that took months to master. "We're here to submit a formal request. We want to appoint these young namekians as guardians of their respective planets, all the information is here in this scroll." He floated up, unrolled an large, ornate scroll prepared by Popo, gently placed it on Yemma's desk and floated back down to the floor.

"Ahem," Yemma coughed uncomfortably. "This is highly irregular." Still, he raised the scroll gingerly with a giant finger and brought it close to his eyes. Sighing, he opened an enormous drawer with his other hand, withdrew a pair of colossal reading glasses and put them on.

"I see," Yemma said after a few minutes of reading. "It appears these nine younglings were all tested and verified by Dende, the guardian of Earth."

Gohan nodded. "Yes, Dende tested them. Mister Popo told us he couldn't make them guardians himself, though, so we came to see you."

Yemma nodded. "That's right, only a guardian can appoint his successor, but the line of guardianship was broken on all other planets except Earth." This made Gohan frown, and Yemma cursed himself for talking too much. He should know better than to make this absurdly powerful mortal any angrier than he already seemed to be.

"Broken? How so?" Gohan asked.

"Err..." Yemma hesitated. "I don't know the exact circumstances, but I assume guardians were either defeated in battle or otherwise forced to leave their station." Unsurprisingly, this did not make Gohan any less angry.

"So you just left it that way? Why didn't you intervene?" Gohan asked, slightly raising his voice. His maintained wisp of ki flickered, almost vanishing.

"We must not intervene in the affairs of mortals," Yemma said diplomatically. "Mortals chose to either kill or depose their guardians, we are prevented by the ancient laws of the gods from appointing new ones." Sweat appeared on his forehead. It wasn't the entire truth, and the extremely honest ogre found it difficult to lie even by omission. It was forbidden, but the gods also didn't pay that much attention to guardians, and Yemma knew the gods' indifference is what made Gohan so angry in the first place. In fact, if Yemma was being completely honest with himself, he found it much easier not to be burdened by the affairs of too many guardians, giving him more time to devote to judging souls. Gohan's eyes seemed to pierce right through him, and Yemma swallowed nervously, anticipating the young mortal's angry response.

"Elder," one of the youngling namekians said suddenly, "is everything alright?" It was Piccolo's eldest offspring, Chell. He didn't have to talk out loud, being proficient with mental communication like all his brothers, but the young namekian was wise beyond his years, and tried to diffuse Gohan's rising anger by asking an innocent question.

Piccolo looked back at Chell, nodded and turned his head to look at Gohan. The half saiyan looked at his mentor and sighed. "Okay, what's done is done." Gohan's anger didn't fade, but he brought it under control. The attitude of the gods towards the suffering of mortals was infuriating, but taking it out on Yemma would be wrong.

Yemma nodded, visibly relieved. Suppressing an urge to wipe his brow, the titanic judge considered the scroll. "These are the seven major settled planets remaining in the north galaxy, except Earth." Taking out a batch of forms from another drawer, Yemma laid them out on the table. "Everything seems to be in order, but I will need to talk with each of these younglings myself before signing their forms." He turned his attention towards the young namekians. They all looked up at him respectfully, nodding. "We understand," Chell said after communicating with the rest silently.

Piccolo stepped forward now. "I also formally ask to be appointed the guardian of the entire galaxy, as a whole" he said. Yemma glanced at Gohan, who nodded.

"Hmm..." King Yemma considered this odd request. The position didn't exist, it never has. If Gohan wasn't here he'd laugh in Piccolo's face and banish the older namekian from his palace immediately, but experience taught him Gohan didn't appreciate this behavior. Whatever these two were planning, they were deadly serious about it.

"I'm afraid that's beyond my authority," Yemma said, "only King Kai can help you."

"Very well," Piccolo nodded as he stepped back, expecting an answer like this.

"We're going to see King Kai, then," Gohan said, rising into the air. "We'll pick up the children after we're done." Looking down at the namekians, he instinctively counted them to make sure they were all there. "They drink clean water," Gohan added, "preferably natural spring water, but they don't need anything else and they're very well behaved." The young namekians mentally sighed to each other. Despite being as tall as Gohan or taller at this point, and almost as powerful as Cell was in his imperfect form, Gohan still treated Piccolo's offspring like toddlers sometimes.

Auras flaring, Gohan and Piccolo took off towards King Kai's planet. "Just come and go as you please then, why don't you," King Yemma mumbled to himself in annoyance, "I'm only the judge of the dead, no one important."

 _King Yemma's palace, shortly afterwards_

The interviews were over. The children were all great warriors from birth, all of them completely pure. This made Yemma worry, since it smacked of mental control. He repeatedly asked if the children were doing this of their own free will, and was appeased only when told that yes, it was very much their own choice, and Piccolo had two more offspring who didn't **want** to become guardians, choosing to forge their own path in life.

After everything was said and done, Yemma finally began to sign the forms. One by one he stamped them, the sound reverberating throughout his palace. One by one the young namekians began to radiate a subtle authority detectable by Yemma and his ogres, marking them as part of the hierarchy of heaven. Yemma read their names and assigned worlds as he stamped each form.

Chell, guardian of the Galactic Capital  
Lugas, guardian of New Namek  
Mull, guardian of Izra  
Usca, guardian of Purnai  
Linns, guardian of Hub  
Cuttle, guardian of Teren  
Balon, guardian of Yardrat

It was done. All the major settled planets of the galaxy had guardians again. Pure, young and exceedingly powerful. Despite himself, King Yemma looked at the new guardians and smiled. For some reason this entire process made him feel better, like some burden was lifted from him, bringing him back to the good old days of his apprenticeship. It was a simpler time, a time before King Cold and his spawn turned the galaxy into a bloodbath.

"You're going to do great, kids," Yemma smiled and spoke in his usual booming voice, now that Gohan wasn't present, "you're all going to do just great."

 _Omni King's palace, everywhere and nowhere_

The Grand Priest smiled at the antics of the twin Zenos as they chased each around the palace columns. Still, for some time now something bothered him. Something was different. Taking his leave and letting the two overlords of creation play, he made his way towards one of the chambers of the palace. It was the divining room, where information from all the universes was displayed on colorful crystals in various shapes, all fixed to the walls of the chamber.

Moving between the shining displays, the Grand Priest eventually stopped at the section of crystals devoted to universes six and seven. The crystals, usually harmonious and quiet, were vibrating in an unusual manner.

"Hmm, most curious," he said to himself. After examining the crystals more thoroughly, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. The mortal level of universe seven was rising. Significantly so. There was a noticeable disparity now between the two linked universes.

"Most curious, indeed." How should he respond to this anomaly? His mind presented many ways of action, all of them eventually discarded with some inner turmoil, for the usual reasons. Sighing, he decided to alert his son and daughter and leave it at that. Whis and Vados must deal with this to the best of their ability, while he could only watch, and hope.

 _Author's Note: I'm back! I wasn't satisfied with the plot I had planned and decided to scrap it. Took me a while to come up with something that I really wanted to write. I admit the new Broly movie made me more interested in Dragon Ball again so that probably got the old inspiration machine going, but the movie itself isn't a part of my own story's "canon"._


	21. Guardians, Part II

_The Galactic Capital, King's palace, grand assembly hall_

While Gohan and Piccolo were crossing snake way and the seven new guardians were being taught by King Yemma, Piccolo's two remaining offspring faced a different sort of challenge. Both of them didn't want anything to do with this entire affair, but had agreed to help their brothers and elder. After a pleasant year of growing up and training on New Namek and Earth, Piccolo's offspring were brought to the galactic capital by spaceship piloted by their elder and Gohan himself.

Now, a few days later, the galactic king burbled to himself in the grand assembly hall. It was his species' way of sighing. After being revived and getting briefed by the galactic patrol, the galactic government returned to normal operation extremely quickly. They just chose to ignore what happened for the most part. Now, however, during the first assembly after the revival, the galactic council was in chaos.

The assembly hall was massive, with hundreds of seats, all arranged in a semi-circular fashion in front of a slightly raised, open podium, itself made of rich wood and lined with platinum and gold. Gold and silver statues stood guard over the many entrances, ornate carpets covered the floor and diamond chandeliers dangled from the ceiling – it was a place of power and riches, and its members were not accustomed to getting threatened by what appeared to be two green-skinned young aliens.

The two aliens in question just finished talking, telling the council members what happened to their world after Gohan met Freeza in battle, and how the new guardians of the galaxy will soon arrive to make sure they abide by Gohan's instructions. Behind the aliens, on the podium, stood Jaco the galactic patrolman and the galactic King. Jaco was attempting to hide in plain sight as the aliens' blunt way of speaking seemed to enrage the council members, and the king was considering calling for a recess to let the council members calm down.

Cthon was Piccolo's second offspring. He was also the largest, most physically powerful and warrior-like of them all. Having a mindset closer to that of a much younger Piccolo, he had no interest in being a guardian, preferring to improve his fighting skills and meditate alone. The entitled attitude of these soft weaklings angered him, but there would be no honor in lashing out at them. All he said was the truth – destroy your weapons of mass destruction and identify those who bought planets from Freeza, or face Gohan's wrath.

Being close to Piccolo's height, Cthon towered over his much shorter brother, Corun. Corun was Piccolo's youngest offspring, and the smallest. He had no fighting spirit at all, being mostly interested in knowledge and scholarly pursuits, but his love of esoteric ki techniques drove him to train his body as mind at least as well as his brothers. While the blunt Cthon drew the council members' anger, Corun concentrated on scanning the assembly both mentally and using ki-amplified hearing. He couldn't resist a telepathic jab, however, before resuming his scan. _Well said, brother_ , Corun thought with a mental smile, _you're a natural diplomat_. Cthon, as usual, didn't respond.

 _Aha! I found something, brother!_ Corun transmitted after a few moments. His excited mental voice drew Chton's attention, as the shorter namekian was usually calm and collected. _That big, round council member right there, he's in communication with a fleet of Freeza force ships! They're set to fly into the system and attack the capital! It's a coup!_

 _Relax, brother,_ Cthon transmitted while looking around the hall, _we're more than enough to handle anything these weaklings have to throw at us._

As if on cue, a stream of guards carrying blaster rifles began entering the hall, teams of them rushing to stand between the rows of seats and block the exits. Noticing the new arrivals, the council members immediately stopped shouting, looking around with alarm. The tentacled king slid in front of the large namekian and spoke through the podium's voice amplifier. "Guards? What is the meaning of this? What are you doing here?"

A huge council member stood up from his seat and addressed the gathering. His body was wide, round and flexible, terminating in a relatively small head with a surprisingly humanoid face. His bloated, white form and two massive, flipper-like arms gave him the appearance of a giant balloon shaped like a sea lion, although his body was actually quite heavy.

"Council members, we are clearly under the threat of an alien conquering force. These two aliens are here to intimidate us, but never fear! I, Minister of Security Glubbar, have taken steps to remedy our failing defenses while our king's inaction failed us."

Glubbar paused, allowing his words to sink in. For some reason the big green alien just stood there, while the smaller one looked right into his eyes and smiled! Such nerve!

"Unfortunately," Glubbar continued, "I'm forced to assume control of the government until this emergency is resolved." He now turned towards his guard captain and pointed at the podium. "Captain! Arrest these interlopers and their allies in the council immediately!"

The captain and a team of elite guards approached the podium, put prisoner collars on the king, Jaco and Corun, and began to take them away. Cthon, however, ignored the soldiers. He nodded wordlessly at his smaller brother and simply flew away, too fast for the shocked guards to try and block him.

Jaco, while being led out of the hall, turned to Corun angrily. "What are you doing? Why aren't you stopping them?"

Corun secretly enjoyed taunting the short, slim patrolman. He also found the prisoner collars interesting, they were obviously booby trapped. "Oh? And why would I do that?"

Jaco's normally frozen expression changed slightly, indicating that Corun's jab worked. "Why?! What do you mean why? They're going to put us in prison and take over the galactic government! Aren't you people supposed to stop them?!"

Corun shrugged. "My only job is to prevent people from dying. I don't really care who is in charge." He considered this a bit more, and added "Actually, I think it will be easier to deal with a single despot than a entire council of people."

Jaco's shoulders slumped and he sighed in defeat. Looks like he was trapped with this indifferent and annoying namekian for now.

 _Galactic Capital, upper atmosphere  
_

The Freeza force fleet approached the planet warily, but no one challenged them. On the bridge of the leading ship, commander Balee crouched in her seat and smiled in satisfaction. All they had to do was follow the instructions of their employer from the council, and they were going to get paid a lot of money. The deceptively short and slim woman appeared too small and fragile for her role, but her body was composed of a rocky, gray material and she weighed almost a thousand pounds. In fact, she was munching on some particularly tasty gemstones as the fleet headed into the atmosphere of the galactic capital.

Suddenly, a multitude of energy blasts exploded ahead, forcing them to stop. On the view screens they could see a lone figure wearing a purple outfit with a white cape, obviously a powerful warrior. He just floated there, watching the ships with arms crossed.

Balee sighed. "Just shoot him down already."

"Yes, commander," responded the round-headed helmsman. "Firing now."

A cannon homed in on Cthon and fired a volley of gigantic blasts towards him. He dodged effortlessly, flying up while sending a barrage of tiny blasts downwards to nullify the ones fired by the ship. A few moments later explosions lit up the ships from below as the cannon blasts were annihilated in midair, causing the warrior's cape to billow upwards before settling back down.

Balee ground her teeth in annoyance, emitting a crushing, screeching sound that caused the entire bridge crew to cringe uncontrollably. Some of them honestly missed the more sadistic commanders they used to have in the past, before most of them were destroyed on Earth. At least those killed you cleanly.

"Gabbu," Balee turned to the helmsman again, "what's his power level?"

"Err, hard to tell, commander." He pointed at the power scanner console, and Balee could see the machine crashing while it read the warrior's power. A few sparks, a burst of smoke and a dead display, that's all they got.

For some reason the warrior wasn't firing back. They could, theoretically, open fire with all their combined weapons, but that may force the warrior to start destroying ships instead of merely countering individual energy blasts. No, Balee thought to herself, here was an elite warrior, like the ones killed when Freeza went to Earth. Planetary-level threats, not something ship weaponry can deal with. She'd have to take him down personally. That, and any errant blasts that hit the city below might cause their employer to cut their pay.

She flew outside the ship along with dozens of her crew, all seasoned warriors under Freeza and his elite underlings. They survived everything the universe threw at them and now here they were, about to conquer the galactic capital itself. Only this upstart green nobody stood in their way.

Balee faced the warrior, both opponents hovering miles about the planet's surface. The clouds below were sparse, allowing them to see the gleaming metal sprawl of the galactic capital city. All was quiet except for the hum of engines and the howls of the wind.

"Warrior, do not interfere, you don't look like a galactic citizen and this isn't your fight," Balee said, ending with a more ominous "leave now or be destroyed."

She barely saw him move. Suddenly he was right next to her, delivering a powerful kick to her stomach that sent her backwards, straight into the flank of another ship. With a huge metallic roar she found herself embedded in the side plate of the other ship. However, she suffered no damage at all, her dense body easily absorbing the impacts.

Growling in anger, she extracted herself from the ship and ordered the fleet to move back. "Give us room to fight, right now." Her escort went back into the command ship, and the entire fleet rose up out of the atmosphere, leaving two flying figures behind.

She was much more durable than her power level implied, thought Cthon. She didn't feel like she was suppressing her power, either. Something strange was going on here.

He was proven right when two energy beams blasted from her eyes without warning, slicing through his leg and severing it from the knee down. A moment later she charged with a gravelly roar, colliding with the stunned Cthon in midair and unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks.

She wasn't very strong, so her blows weren't doing much damage, but coupled with the damage from her beam attack they were slowly wearing the namekian warrior down.

Unlike the rest of his brothers, Cthon had very little interest in New Namek. When Piccolo took them there to teach them their heritage, Cthon spent a couple of days meditating before asking Goku to return him to Earth. Other than those few days, he tried to spend as much time sparring with the only person on Earth who seemed to take their fighting seriously enough, and that was Vegeta.

The powerful older saiyan didn't hold back. While Piccolo taught them ways to overcome pain and Goku stunned them or threw them around with clever maneuvers and energy techniques, Vegeta went all out. He actually damaged the young namekians, inflicting terrible wounds. Corun didn't even finish one fighting session with the prince, and the rest preferred more balanced training sessions with their elder, Goku or Gohan… but Cthon always wanted more sparring with Vegeta. Piccolo understood, and allowed it.

Vegeta was fighting them like a real opponent would, knowing they had regenerative abilities that also needed to be trained. By hurting them he was actually showing them respect as powerful warriors. The others never understood this, they just assumed the prince was sadistic. In the end, before they left for the galactic capital, Vegeta proclaimed Cthon to be "adequate", and Cthon considered it to be his greatest achievement so far. Right now Vegeta's painful lessons served Cthon well.

The young warrior regenerated his severed limb while defending from the rock woman's blows as best as he could in his slightly stunned state. With a roar of anger he unleashed a kiai blast that pushed her away, and the two opponents hovered for a moment, observing each other.

Cthon knew it was the calm before the storm, and he was right. Another blast from her eyes, taking him almost completely by surprise. He nearly managed to dodge it, but the beams sliced his right forearm almost to the bone. Again, she charged immediately after the beam attack and attempted to wear him down with lightning-fast kicks and punches.

It wasn't a ki blast! Cthon realized that's why he couldn't sense it, it must be some natural ability of her race. Extremely concentrated, piercing beams of... of what? Was it lasers? He didn't know. She couldn't use it constantly, otherwise she would have cut him into pieces already, and was there a little flash of light from her eyes right before it became usable?

He blocked most of her attacks and some of his strikes connected, but she was too powerfully armored to take any damage.

Again, a flash of light from her eyes! This time he was ready. He could see her head begin to turn in a slicing movement as she was setting up her attack. Knowing he had a moment when the positioning of her head could be predicted, he dived to the side and blasted her with a powerful energy attack from point blank range, right into the side of her head!

The massive explosion sent cracks all along her skull, flinging her back and causing her to almost black out. With a final shout he intercepted her flying form, catching her with a powerful spinning kick to the side of the head, where the cracks formed. A shattering, sickening noise could be heard, and she lost consciousness.

 _King's palace, prison cells  
_

The palace dungeon had been empty for a very long time. It was dusty, and the cell doors were difficult to open and close. Still, Jaco, the King and Corun found themselves trapped in a locked cell.

"Look," Jaco turned to the young namekian, who simply sat there serenely, "you really have to get us out of here. You know what Grubbar is going to do next? He's going to force the council to use the weapons of mass destruction against Earth, that's what. Standard protocol whenever another race threatens the capital."

"Hmm…" Corun considered this. It made sense, and that meant he had to act fast. "Fine."

Corun stood up and reached for his collar. Jaco and the King immediately jumped up and tried to stop him.

"Stop!" Jaco shouted, "Don't touch the co…"

Too late, Corun's hands grabbed the metallic band and triggered its electric charge. Corun's body spasmed in pain and shock, and the namekian crashed to the floor, smoke rising from his neck.

He wasn't moving. Jaco crept closer to Corun's fallen form, and to his horror discovered the namekian was dead. The collar had killed him. "How can this happen" Jaco whispered, "the collars are only supposed to shock you…"

Jako and the King looked down at the body, now completely terrified. They realized that his death meant their doom, either by Grubbar's tender justice or by Gohan and Piccolo's wrath. Ever so slowly, Corun's body began to disintegrate, turning to dust and vanishing completely. The collar fell to the floor and rolled around for a while, before settling down with a final, metallic din.

Both of them sank to the floor again in despair.

 _I'm just joking, that was a clone_ , a smug disembodied voice told them telepathically. _I'm already in the assembly hall, don't worry.  
_  
The king began making strange burbling noises and Jaco just stared into the air, not knowing what to feel. The only namekians he met in the past were stoic and honorable, but this one was completely insane.


	22. Guardians, Part III

_Otherworld, King Yemma's palace_

The seven namekians listened with unwavering attention as the huge ogre explained about their new duties and privileges.

"Guardians," Yemma elaborated in his usual powerful voice, reading out of an ancient scroll, "receive three gifts from the gods, to allow them to carry out their duties. The first is the gift of sight, so that they may know what occurs within their domain. The second is the gift of travel, so that they may reach anywhere within their domain when the need arises. The third, and most precious of all, is the gift of healing, so that they may alleviate pain and suffering."

"But know this, guardians," Yemma's voice grew lower and more ominous, and the young namekians leaned forward in anticipation, fascinated by Yemma's theatrics. "These gifts are not to be wasted frivolously. The gift of sight requires you to know yourself, or you may delude yourself into blindness, thinking all is well when all is not. The gift of travel may lead you to seclude yourself, thinking you can be anywhere at any moment but choosing to delay, trapping yourself in a prison of your own creation. And the gift of healing, alone among the three gifts, may be lost forever if you lose your purity. Never take a life or hurt your charges with malice in your heart, or the healing gift will vanish like it was never yours."

Yemma stopped reciting for a moment, then coughed and grinned at the seven wide-eyed younglings sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Well, we're done for now. Have a little break in one of the side rooms, and then I'll teach you about escorting souls from your domain to my palace, or the other way around, and crossing the barrier between the mortal world and the world of the gods."

 _Galactic capital, King's palace, grand assembly hall_

From his hiding place in the shadows, high up between the ceiling arches, Corun observed four council members who seemed to be the conspirators. Although adept at concealing their thoughts, Corun's skill at telepathy was almost as good as his father's, and with some effort he managed to sneak into their minds through cracks of arrogance, greed, fear and cruelty. His brothers didn't know how well he understood these emotions, but his elder did.

Corun remembered Piccolo's words as the young sorcerer scanned the minds of the council members below.

"Don't hide from these things, Corun," Piccolo had said, "accept them and overcome their attraction, don't let them control and define you. This is what my own elder failed to understand. One part of him, my father, thought these impulses lead to greater power, but in the end all they did was limit him, make him smaller. The other part, Kami, denied these impulses completely, and by doing that he lost an essential part of himself."

 _Accept and overcome_ , thought Corun, and used these impulses to identify with the ministers, essentially fooling their minds' defenses into believing he wasn't a different entity at all, just a part of themselves.

The gigantic, seal-like Glubbar was their leader, the minister of security. All the guards and police forces were under his control, and so were many of the high-ranking officers in the galactic patrol.  
Next to him stood the very tall, gray and spindly form of Gazid, minister of finance. Gazid controlled the banks and treasuries, and without his support a coup such as this could not have taken place.  
Next to Gazid stood Yommi, minister of the planetary registry. Her domain was the permits, legislation and various authorities that allowed the galaxy to function — travel, shipping, trade, production, everything had to go through her ministry first.  
And the last of the conspirators, Biko, was a member of Jaco's race. He was the minister of taxation, and one of the most hated figures in this room. In addition to that, annoyingly enough, his eyesight was so good that it forced Corun to change positions once in a while. He had to remain out of the minister's line of sight, or risk being discovered even far above between the ceiling arches.

The ministers were annoyed, their coup not progressing according to plan. Apparently the Freeza fleet ships and soldiers, their main source of power and intimidation, weren't responding to hails. The fleet was hovering just above the atmosphere, doing nothing.

The four conspirators were getting more and more nervous, since they had a fixed window of time before the planetary defenses would engage the intruders. Again and again Glubbar hailed the fleet, demanding to know what was going on, but no one answered.

 _Galactic capital, Freeza fleet remnants_

Gabbu the helmsman found himself in charge of dealing with the green warrior. He wasn't the most senior or the most talented soldier, but the others who had higher ranking seemed to melt away in fear, leaving him almost alone on the bridge.

Currently the green warrior, who introduced himself as Cthon, second offspring of Piccolo (whatever that meant), was sitting in the captain's chair, one leg slung over the wide armrests. Minutes earlier he barged into the ship through the airlock, carrying the unconscious commander Balee with him. Gabbu **liked** Balee, despite the horrible noises her grinding teeth made sometimes, and was happily surprised to see her brought back on board. She was probably the last powerful Freeza soldier left, and she barely paid any attention to the others at all — which meant no one got destroyed in random fits of rage. She was safe to be around.

Balee was currently lying on a side bench near the entrance to the bridge. The entire left side of her head was cracked, and that was the first time Gabbu saw the commander take any kind of damage. She told him once that the healing tanks they had didn't do anything for her, so Gabbu had no idea how she was supposed to heal from that. Right now, though, there were more pressing concerns.

"So," the large namekian warrior addressed Gabbu, "I'm the commander now, right?"

Gabbu shook his head. "No, sir, Balee is the commander."

Cthon frowned, causing the much smaller alien to take a step back. "I defeated her, so that means her command is mine," Cthon stated simply. "I'm the commander."

Gabbu sighed and decided to play along for now. It was better than dying. "Yes, commander."

Cthon nodded. "Good." He looked around for a few moments before focusing back on Gabbu. "So, why exactly are we here?"

"Err," Gabbu looked at the unconscious Balee, then back at Cthon. "We were commissioned by a council member to come here and take over the capital."

Cthon frowned again. Gabbu swallowed in fear, but in fact Cthon frowned because intrigue and politics bored him completely. He simply didn't care, and wanted absolutely nothing to do with the entire thing. As far as he was concerned his part in all of this was complete, and he was free to do whatever he wanted. Now he had a spaceship, or several of them, so he didn't even have to rely on Gohan or his father for transportation.

"Where were you earlier, before you came here?"

Gabbu swallowed again. Did this powerful warrior want to destroy their base? "Umm… Meku, si… I mean, commander."

"What is Meku?" Cthon asked.

"It's a mining asteroid in the Hub system, commander. It used to be a Freeza station so it has a large spaceport."

"Are there fighters there?" Cthon asked again, impatiently.

Gabbu raised an eyebrow ridge and tilted his head in confusion. "Excuse me, commander?"

"Fighters. I'm looking for strong fighters to fight. Are there any on Meku?"

"Well…" Gabbu hesitated, "most of the technicians there were Freeza soldiers, so I guess they can fight."

When he sensed Cthon getting annoyed, Gabbu hurriedly added "but there's the arena on Hub, commander."

Cthon's mood seemed to improve considerably, and he leaned forward in the captain's chair. "Arena? Isn't that like a tournament? A fighting tournament?"

Gabbu nodded. "Yes, commander, although it doesn't have any fixed beginning or end, it's just constant fights almost every night."

"What?!" Cthon had never heard of such a thing. "Why are we still here, then?! Set a course for Hub, right now. We're going to fight in the Arena."

Gabbu thought he misheard. "We, commander?

Cthon nodded. "Of course."

"Commander…" Gabbu hesitated "none of us are fighters, we're soldiers and spacers, but not arena fighters."

Cthon looked around, sensing the dozens of soldiers on board the various ships. The weakest of them was ten times stronger than the mightiest martial artist on Earth, other than prodigies like Tien or Krillin. The strongest, Balee, was much stronger than that, and that's without taking her strange abilities into account.

The namekian looked back at Gabbu and frowned. "Fool, why pretend you're a weakling? You're thirty times stronger than my father was at my age. A few decades ago you could have come to Earth and overcome all its strongest fighters by yourself."

"But commander," Gabbu was almost crying at this point, "what about Freeza? We can't just pick up and leave the fleet, he'll hunt us down and torture us to death when he comes back!"

"Bah!" Cthon spat in disgust, "He's gone forever. His soul was wiped clean and reincarnated by the judge of souls himself, Freeza is never coming back."

 _Galactic capital, King's palace, grand assembly hall_

"Enough of this nonsense, then," the angry Glubbar muttered, pocketing his communication device. Damn Freeza raiders, can't rely on these fools to follow even basic instructions. "Before we continue," he looked around at the other three council members, "there's the issue of the earthling threat."

"No time, no time," said planetary minister Yommi. "Just scramble the hyperspace drones already. Load them with apocalypse weapons and send them off, right now."

"Agreed," whispered Gazid in his usual, hushed tone. "We have to take care of the King immediately, before the rest of the galactic security catches on."

"Too bad about patrolman Jaco," said Biko, "but sacrifices must be made. Send the drones, Glubbar, and lets move forward."

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that," said someone right next to them.

The four turned around and looked at the source of the voice. It was that shorter green alien from before, the one who stared into Glubbar's eyes! He was right there, barely five feet away!

"You!" Glubbar said angrily as the four conspirators took a few steps back and away from this new threat. "I thought they took you away already. Guards! Apprehend this intruder… again!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Corun smiled. His aura flared, forcing the council members to step even further back and causing any guard who came close to stop in his tracks.

"You see, the gods are angry, and they sent me and my brothers to deal with you." Horrifyingly, his body rippled, shifted and began growing and stretching, his voice growing deeper and more menacing as the process continued.

"My brothers are all angels of the gods, but me…" Huge, black claws extended from his monstrously large hands, rippling muscles grew and settled on his colossal frame, massive horns curled out from the sides of his head, and a snake's tongue lashed out from between twin fangs, dripping with poison. "I'm no angel."

Shrieking in terror, most of the council members and guards simply turned and ran. A few brave guards fired at the nightmarish monster, but their shots had no effect. It ignored them completely, focusing only on the four council members who spoke out against the king.

With a sickening sound of tearing flesh, six gigantic arms grew from the demon's back, brandishing the same deadly, black claws. With lightning quick movements, the council members found themselves enveloped by massive, clawed paws and slowly raised towards the creature's wide, fanged mouth. When it spoke next, there was no trace of the short, green alien left. The voice was deep, booming and terrible, and it spelled their doom.

 **"For the four of you, the gods sent their demon of death"  
**  
There was a flash of light, a sound of distant thunder, and a new voice called out "Corun! Stop!"

The monster holding them in its paws turned its head back towards the podium, one of its horns hitting a chandelier and raising a chiming sound that filled the hall for a few moments.

A newcomer had appeared in the center of the podium. He was a tall, heroic-looking green alien, wearing a white robe and surrounded by a soft aura of white light.

The monster gently put the council members back on the ground. A moment later and the colossal demon was gone, replaced again by the short, smiling green alien.

"Hello, Chell," Corun smiled at his brother, the newly appointed Guardian of the Galactic Capital. "Don't worry, I wasn't really going to hurt them, just wanted to scare them a little bit."

 _Beerus' world, bed chamber_

The god of destruction was trapped in a nightmare for quite a while now. Something was slipping away between his fingers, and try as he might he just couldn't catch it. He worked so hard for it, for eons and eons, millions of years of careful balancing, but it just slipped away.

He fell into a looming darkness that spread underneath him, still trying to catch that ephemeral thing. The darkness was full of angry eyes, blaming him, chastising him, telling him to…

"Wake up, Lord Beerus! Please!"

Whis finally managed to shake Beerus awake. "Wha…" Beerus looked around until he finally recognized Whis. "Whis? What happened? Why did you wake me?"

The angel sighed. "You were having a terrible nightmare, my lord, and it was time for you to wake up anyway. In your sleep you were starting to destroy the palace itself with random energy blasts, I woke you up so you'd still have a bed to sleep in next time you were tired."

Beerus rubbed his eyes. "Fine, fine…"

His ears suddenly perked up. "Whis, something feels different. Something's wrong. How long was my nap?"

"About a year or so, my lord," Whis answered calmly.

"Alright," Beerus nodded and spent a few moments stretching his limbs. "Let's have some breakfast, and while I'm eating you can tell me what happened."


	23. Out of Hell

_Piccolo's lookout, outer space_

The new galactic lookout was very similar to Dende's lookout on Earth, except for the scenery. Instead of floating in a planet's atmosphere, this lookout hovered near the center of the galaxy. Ordinarily no living thing could survive there, but a magical shield protected the lookout from the dangers of the void. In addition to that, the promenade at the entrance of the temple contained magical trees which provided air to breathe, in addition to an enchanted fountain which provided water and a steady flow of ki. While constructing the new lookout, King Kai had asked Piccolo if he wanted Ajisa trees from New Namek to grow there, but Piccolo preferred the more familiar Earth plants.

Gohan and Piccolo sat down on one of the benches surrounding the fountain, Piccolo meditating and Gohan staring at the stars in amazement. The half-saiyan knew that stars were much closer together at the center of the galaxy, but actually seeing it in person, from inside, was almost too much for words.

After a long period of quiet star gazing, Gohan turned to his friend, who was still levitating, meditating with eyes closed and legs crossed. "How is it, Piccolo?"

"It's hard to describe," answered the namekian. "I can see anywhere if I concentrate hard enough, but everywhere I look I see death. It's like an abandoned graveyard. There are..." the namekian hesitated, but eventually continued, "ghosts… souls of the dead who couldn't find their way to the otherworld, they're all flying around the remains of a hundred thousand broken worlds, surrounded by hundreds of billions of lifeless planets. So many of them."

Gohan had sensed the disturbing emptiness of the galaxy after the ritual, but he couldn't sense those trapped souls. Their presence only hardened his resolve.

"The remaining planets feel like candles about to be snuffed out," Piccolo continued. "I can sense my offspring on their assigned worlds, I see Corun is still in the galactic capital with Chell, and Cthon… wait… ah, Cthon is fighting dozens of opponents at once in the arena of the world called Hub, the crowd is chanting his name." The tall namekian smiled. "I used to want that, a long time ago, even if I never admitted it to myself."

A sharp gasp from Gohan caused Piccolo to open his eyes. "What is it?"

Gohan looked up at him. "It's Beerus, he's awake."

Piccolo couldn't sense beings and events outside the galaxy, but he had no reason to doubt Gohan's words. "Are you sure it's urgent?" he asked, "Beerus may not find out about what you did to Freeza for a long time. And even if he does, maybe he wouldn't care that much."

"I don't know, Piccolo," Gohan closed his own eyes and reached out with his ki sense. "He feels agitated, I better get moving."

Gohan stood up and walked towards the lookout's rim. "I hope you're right," he turned to look at Piccolo and ignited his aura, "but I think we just ran out of time."

 _Otherworld, Hell, a short while later_

Beerus and Whis appeared in the otherworld and immediately descended into hell.

"Can't you go any faster, Whis?" Beerus asked in annoyance, waving away strands of thick, yellow clouds.

"I'm going as fast as I can, my lord," Whis answered in a slightly accusing tone.

Beerus sighed. "Fine, fine, let's just get it over with."

A few minutes later they reached their destination, an area of hell that appeared to be a training ground for ogres. It was a large, open compound on a tall plateau that towered above the surrounding landscape. On it groups of guardian ogres were engaged in various training exercises, some using ornate weapons, some using hand-to-hand combat, and others using simple energy attacks.

All activity stopped when the ogres noticed Whis and Beerus flying towards them. Every ogre, from junior trainee to senior instructor, froze in place and stopped moving.

Whis and Beerus landed on the platform and walked towards one group of ogres. They were the most experienced guards, all veteran warriors, and their instructor was the only non-ogre on the plateau. He was also the only one who wasn't frozen in fear. When he saw the others stop moving, the tall instructor noticed Whis and Beerus and simply waited there to see what will happen next.

Beerus, impatient after minutes of flying through space and dimensions, approached the instructor and looked up. "You're Cell, right?"

"Yes, who is asking?" Cell answered, curious and annoyingly fearless. His eyes were drawn to the top of the newcomers' heads, noting the distinct lack of halos. These were living beings, out of place in this realm.

"My name is Beerus, and this is Whis", said Beerus. The tall angel looked down at Cell and smiled.

"Very well," Cell answered, "you already know who I am. Why have you come here?"

"We're here to bring you back to life," Beerus said and paused for a few moments, allowing his words to sink in. "We bring you back to life, you destroy Earth, and after that you're free to do as you wish."

The tall, green-armored warrior considered this for a few moments, then answered "no, thanks".

"What!?" Beerus asked angrily.

"He said no, my lord," Whis said helpfully.

"I heard what he said, Whis," said the annoyed Beerus. Turning his attention back to Cell, the god of destruction said "I thought you wanted to destroy Earth, we're giving you a chance to do it."

"I wanted to, for a long time," Cell admitted, "but that was another me, a young fool indoctrinated and brainwashed by an insane, long-dead creator. To put it simply," Cell smirked at the catlike god, "I got over it."

Beerus growled in annoyance. Everything was wrong, this Cell character was supposed to be a murderous psychopath who wanted to be the perfect warrior. And here he was, training these pathetic ogres to fight better? That wasn't right at all.

"What about perfection?" asked Beerus with barely restrained anger. "Are you content to stay here and toy with these ogres?"

"That was just part of my old brainwashing," Cell answered calmly. "What is perfection, really? If an artist creates the most perfect painting, is he more perfect or less perfect than me, the perfect warrior? And if I am the perfect warrior and then meet a more powerful warrior, does that make him the perfect warrior, and will I be perfect again when I overcome him?" Cell paused for a moment and then continued, "It's an illogical waste of time. Embarrassing, really, when I look back at my old self."

"Bah!" Beerus spat, "A philosopher? Really?! This is what hell does to you, turns you into a philosopher?!" He raised his right arm towards Cell, palm open and fingers extended upwards.

"Tell me, Cell," Beerus smiled menacingly, "What do you think about non-existence?"

"Lord Beerus, no!" Whis called out. The angel rushed forward and grabbed Beerus' arm. "Please, my lord, remember my warning."

"Fine, fine…" Beerus sighed and lowered his arm. "Let's just go meet the second target."

Without saying anything else, Beerus launched himself into the skies of Hell, followed by Whis.

A moment later he paused, turned around and launched a tiny pinprick of energy towards the plateau. A titanic explosion lit the sky for miles, causing the tall rock formation to shatter and crumble. A column of dust and smoke rose from the ruined plateau and almost reached the yellow clouds above.

Beerus smiled grimly and watched the destruction for a moment before continuing.

Back at the former training site, piles of rubble and large pieces of broken rock started levitating into the air, raised telekinetically by Cell and allowing the grateful ogres to extricate themselves and their wounded friends.

"I don't think about non-existence all that much, to be honest," Cell said to himself, looking at the two figures vanishing in distance.

 _Otherworld, Hell, maze of mirrors_

It was the most wretched place in the hell, at least in the eyes of the prisoner. A maze of mirrors, each one showing only the truth. There was nowhere to go where he couldn't see his pathetic reflection. He never got tired, never got hungry, never got thirsty. All there was to do was stare at himself in a multitude of mirrors.

How long was he trapped there? Was it days? Months? Years? The prisoner honestly couldn't tell. Time just went on and on, and his reflection — that gray, weak and pathetic reflection — was his only companion.

At least until the explosion, that was completely different and new. Was it a test? A new way of torturing him? The prisoner didn't care at this point. He gathered his energy and ran towards the sound of destruction, stopping only when, to his delight, he arrived at an area where the ceiling was gone. For the first time in forever, he could see the yellow clouds of hell, and they looked like the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his existence. Too bad hell didn't have refreshing breezes, but the sight of the sky and clouds was enough.

Only when the excitement wore off he noticed the strangers, and the mirror shard stuck in his foot.

"Argh! That hurts!" The prisoner hopped on one leg for a moment, then sat down and began extracting the shard from the wound.

The strangers floated a few inches above the broken glass covering the floor and approached the prisoner. One of them, a hairless alien with big ears, asked him what his name was, and if he wanted to destroy Earth.

The prisoner's mind immediately began to overflow with thoughts of revenge. "There's nothing I want more. Sadly, I've been stuck like this for a while."

The stranger smiled, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him upright. His tall, blue-skinned friend waved his staff, and suddenly the prisoner's lungs filled with air. His heart began to beat again, and the fog interfering with his mind began to clear. His hands wandered above his head, searching for an halo and finding none. Now came the familiar part, then. The prisoner's body tensed, preparing to make a move.

"Don't even think about it," the feline alien said, as if reading the prisoner's thoughts.

The prisoner grimaced, then smiled. These aliens were clearly wise and powerful. "My sincere apologies, powerful ones, it's a force of habit. I assure you I have no intention of attacking you."

"Of course not," said the catlike alien with a knowing grin. "Can you fly?"

"I'm afraid not, lord, my power was restricted ever since I came to this realm."

"Doesn't matter, take my hand and hold on," the stranger said, "I'll explain your task on the way."

 _Earth, upper atmosphere_

Beerus and Whis hovered about the blue-green planet, looking down. The former prisoner was in place, his task underway. Watching it unfold was pointless. Whis had been masking their ki ever since they left hell, there was simply no way this could fail. And even if it did, he'd just try again later.

"Great, we're done with that. Now let's go find Gohan," said Beerus.

"Yes, lord," Whis responded in a strangely subdued tone.

"What's wrong with you, Whis?" the god of destruction asked.

"Nothing, lord," Whis hesitated, "it's just…"

Beerus waited, tail flicking about more and more rapidly, until he snapped. "Well, say it already, Whis!"

"I… I like this world, my lord," Whis began, then grew quiet.

"Oh come on, Whis," Beerus said. This happened once or twice in the last few million years. Sentimental angels were the worst. "They're just mortal in the end, they don't matter. Snap out of it and let's go find Gohan. He has a lot to answer for."

"Yes, lord," Whis said cheerfully and began scanning the galaxy for Gohan's location.

"Good to have you back, Whis," said Beerus sarcastically. "Now hurry it up, will you? I'm getting hungry. Maybe we can go grab something on Champa's Earth."

 _Earth, Satan City, a while later_

The former prisoner wandered the city for a long time, observing the people, the buildings, the street signs. He stopped in front of an electronics shop and watched TV for a while, entered an internet cafe and used the primitive computers to search for clues, always gathering more information. He discovered that the idiots had an open global net full of juicy knowledge, available for free!

His benefactors didn't give him any intelligence at all. He didn't even know where he was, exactly. All the catlike alien said was "destroy Earth as quickly as possible", and that was it. Well, fine. Destroying planets wasn't that difficult. As long as he maintained a low profile and got it over with quickly, none of Earth's warriors would have enough time to stop him.

Eventually he approached a policeman on a relatively quiet street corner.

"Excuse me, sir, I'm lost. Can you help me?"

"Eh?" The policeman looked at the stranger curiously. He wore simple robes, not city clothes, and didn't look human at all. A short, very thin humanoid with gray skin, large head and two black, saucer-like eyes. "Err…" it was impolite to stare, and the stranger did appear out of place. "Of course, where do you need to go?"

"I'm looking for Mister Satan, sir, I heard he accepts alien students and came to study martial arts from him."

"Wow," the policeman was stunned. "You're an alien, really?"

"Yes, sir," the prisoner tried to appear as innocent as possible. "Can you help me?"

"O… of course. In fact, I'll take you there myself!"

A short while later, the policeman arrived at Mister Satan's mansion, having coordinated a meeting with Hercule himself. A group of photographers were already there to document another historic meeting between Satan, champion of Earth, and a new alien disciple.

 _Gods, these Earthlings are stupid_ , the former prisoner thought as the policeman escorted him through the journalists blocking the way to Satan's mansion. He's practically doing them a favor by destroying them.

Eventually Satan himself opened the door and faced the journalists, speaking about it being an honor to act as Earth's ambassador to other species. He even put his hand around the prisoner's shoulders as the photographers took pictures, bending his tall frame down.

After he was done with the media, Satan took him inside the house, closed the door and looked at him skeptically.

"Are you really an alien?" the tall human asked.

In response, the prisoner spread his hands to both sides, looked straight into Satan's eyes and shouted "CHANGE, NOW!"

Without missing a beat, Captain Ginyu, now in Satan's body, stepped forward and punched his old, powerless, original body in the face, then held his fist up in pain as the gray, wretched form fell down. The human fool was completely unconscious. Ginyu knelt down, snapped his neck and stuffed him in a closet.

This human was almost as weak as his original body! He barely had enough ki to light a match, never mind blowing up a planet. Absolutely pathetic. Ginyu reminisced about his time in Tagoma's body, then grimaced as he remembered his end. To hell with Freeza and to double hell with that traitor Vegeta, all Ginyu had to do was find someone moderately powerful, destroy Earth and escape.

Oh well, on with the mission. Ginyu then remembered his supposed alien student. Maybe that one wasn't a complete weakling, although it would be very difficult to equal his current body's weakness.

Ginyu wandered the mansion for a few minutes, hearing movement in one of the rooms ahead. It seemed to be a kitchen, and in that kitchen was a fat, blob-like pink alien stuffing his face with various items of food. That was the same alien he saw in those pictures on the internet, Satan's student.

 _Look at him go_ , thought Ginyu. Well, no time like the present.

"Hello, my student," said Ginyu.

The confused Buu looked at him. "Huh? Student?"

Ginyu spread his hands and once again shouted "CHANGE, NOW!"

Power! Magic! All of it his to play with! His mind, flooded suddenly with the power of ancient sorcery, took a few moments to adapt. When he came to, the other was gone. Never mind, the now-pathetic alien was helpless in Satan's body, while he, Ginyu, controlled one of the most overpowered bodies he ever had the pleasure of inhabiting.

He knew he was supposed to destroy the Earth as quickly as possible, but his new power was too tempting… No one will know if he spent a few minutes rampaging around the city. It wouldn't hurt, right?

 _Otherworld, King Yemma's palace_

"Gohan's father in law?! Murdered?!" Yemma's good mood evaporated at a record speed.

"Yes, sir king god, sir, that's me!" Satan said proudly.

"I'm not judging you. No. No no no. You are staying right there in one of the side room. Guards! Take this soul away!"


	24. First Strike

_Nameless neutron star, doomed planet_

Creating an entire planet had not been easy for Gohan. King Kai made the creation of complex object look easy, but the diminutive deity had tens of thousands of years to study the art. No, Gohan expended massive amounts of energy, eventually creating a relatively small, airless sphere of rock the size of Earth's moon. Days later he managed to coat the entire thing in a thin, but breathable, atmosphere.

It was not permanent, far from it. Without plants, bacteria or the right geological processes, the atmosphere would evaporate in a matter of decades. It would be blasted off by the powerful solar winds emitted by the local star — the same neutron star Gohan had used for training.

It was here that Gohan flew after leaving Piccolo's new lookout. The planet itself seemed to know it was a temporary, fleeting creation — with a broken surface of gray rocks, all cracked and lifeless, shaped into ominously deep fissures and claw-like cliffs reaching out into space.

There were no other planets in this system. All of them had been vaporized or launched away by the ancient cataclysm that created the neutron star itself. Reaching out with his ki, Gohan could sense Beerus and Whis speeding towards his lonely world.

 _Am I ready for a final fight?_ He asked himself. Ever since the ritual he spent almost all his time training, either out in space or meditating at home. Other than that there were a few sparring sessions with Vegeta to hone what Krillin had jokingly referred to as their "Freeza style", a few days wishing back the people of the Galactic Capital and taking Piccolo and his family there by spaceship, and a few precious hours every night with his family.

And now it felt like his time was up. Whis and Beerus had vanished, then appeared out of nowhere near Earth. For a few moments Gohan considered contacting Piccolo and asking the new guardian of the north galaxy to transport him to Earth at once, but the god of destruction and his angel left Earth as soon as he detected them, and began approaching his location.

The angel's speed was astounding, several orders of magnitude faster than Gohan's full speed. Beerus and Whis traveled almost thirty thousand light-years in a few minutes, arriving with a flash of power and appearing a few dozen feet away from the rock Gohan was sitting on.

Whis looked at Gohan with his characteristic smile and nodded politely. Beerus stared at the half-saiyan in anger and came closer, his swaying tail cracking rocks unlucky enough to be in its path.

"What do you think you're doing?" Asked Beerus bluntly, clearly angry.

Gohan stood up. "Sorry, lord Beerus?"

"Don't play games with me," Beerus glared at Gohan, "I know what you did." Suddenly Beerus stopped talking, squinted and sniffed the air. He then turned to Whis.

"Whis, what's this? There's something different about the boy."

Gohan waited. He appeared to be standing in a relaxed and respectful manner, but if Vegeta – or one of the other "Freeza style" learners – was here he'd immediately see that the half-saiyan was ready for battle. One of the advantages of mastering ki control at this level was the ability to go from a relaxed state to full battle awareness immediately. Gohan hoped it was fast enough, if Beerus decided to attack.

The tall, elegant angel had already scanned Gohan and was now looking into the crystal embedded into his staff. A moment later Whis turned his eyes to Beerus.

"It appears that one of the kais seeded mortals of the north galaxy with divine power, and his plan somehow culminated in Gohan's transformation. He has effectively become one of the core people born from the golden fruits, lord Beerus, holding the rank of a supreme kai."

"WHAT?!" The effect on Beerus was extreme, and Gohan didn't understand why. Full of rage, two deadly ki orbs began to appear in each of Beerus' hands, his purple aura flaring angrily.

"So after all this, I can't even destroy him?" Beerus asked in barely restrained fury.

"It appears so, my lord," Whis nodded and smiled at Gohan. Was that relief in the angel's eyes? Not that Gohan was about to argue, but what exactly stopped Beerus from destroying him?

Beerus turned to Gohan and stared at him with obvious hatred. "You ruined everything." The feline god closed his fists around the two orbs he formed in his rage, snuffing them out. "You know, don't you?"

Both Gohan and Whis started talking at the same time. "Know wh…"

The two stopped awkwardly, motioning for each other to continue, until Whis shook his head and waited in silence.

Gohan coughed. "Um… know what, lord Beerus?"

Beerus bared his fangs in a growl. "Don't play stupid games with me, boy. Everywhere I look, there you are. Feeding me so much I feel asleep for a more than a year, appointing guardians for every planet in your galaxy, even destroying Freeza and causing him to be reincarnated! Why else would you do it?"

Gohan cleared his throat, trying to think what to say. Eventually he settled on the truth. "Lord Beerus, I got rid of Freeza because he was a threat to every living being in the universe, including my family. I helped appoint the guardians to stop the galactic patrol from using weapons of mass destruction. I had to do it to keep people safe."

"Nonsense. You knew I ordered that fool in heaven to keep Freeza stored away, you knew it and forced him to reincarnate Freeza anyway. And the guardians… Everything you did was an attack on me, boy." Beerus seemed to grow angrier by the second. "You're a supreme kai now, right? Do you know what I did to the last supreme kai who tried to stop me?"

Gohan stared into Beerus' eyes without answering, his own anger beginning to rise. Here was the greatest mass murderer the universe had ever known, trying to threaten him like one of the villains he and his friend had defeated in the past. Just another brutal killer, completely irredeemable. Gohan could sense battle was inevitable at this point, but he'd try to get as much information as possible. Something was going on behind the scenes, and he had to find out what. All Gohan had to do was not give in to his rage and allow Beerus to talk.

"Nothing to say?" Beerus sneered. "Well, I'll tell you anyway. I had Whis trap him in a sword and embed him in an unbreakable spire of rock. The fool kais eventually forgot about him and worshiped that sword as legendary weapon." Beerus chuckled at the memory, turning to Whis. "Tell me, Whis, how did that old pest get out? What happened to that sword?"

Whis stared into his staff, then paused. Beerus' tail started flicking around impatiently, cutting grooves into the irregular rocks around him. "Well? Out with it already! What is it with you lately, Whis?"

The angel looked away from the crystal in his staff. "My apologies, lord. It appears that Gohan and Goku broke the sword while training on the world of the Kais. Gohan freed the sword from the rock spire to use it against Majin Buu, but it broke when he used it to block a mass of katchin thrown by Goku as part of their training. It happened during your last great sleep, lord Beerus."

Beerus' aura flared violently now. "Why am I not surprised. It's always you, isn't it? I thought there was something about your father, Vegeta too, but I overlooked you. You fooled me, boy." Beerus looked at the half-saiyan menacingly. "Well, it ends now, you've been discovered. Tell me, who sent you? Who told you? How did you find out?"

Gohan barely held back the urge to attack, noticing that even Whis was confused by Beerus' words. "Told me what, lord Beerus? I only wanted to protect people."

Suddenly, Beerus' aura contracted and vanished. The god of destruction tensed, then charged at Gohan. Even in his hyper-aware, ki-controlled state, the speed was blinding. The young half-saiyan barely managed to block Beerus' high spinning kick with his right arm, the force of the attack launching him into a nearby cliff. The entire rock formation collapsed, releasing a titanic burst of rubble and dust.

"No more talk," Beerus said to himself. "I can't destroy you, but I can hurt you. You'll tell me everything I want to know, one way or another."


	25. Satan City Saiyan

_Satan City, outside Satan's mansion_

Buu was terrified. He had no idea what was happening to him, all he knew was that he was attacked by a deadly enemy and left completely powerless. Running away through the crowded city streets, he was immediately surrounded by masses of fans, all screaming Satan's name. This time he couldn't fly, there was no way to avoid them. Buu was trapped.

Behind him he could hear thunderous explosions, and orange fire lit up the sky. The terrified Buu could only roar "Run! Run now! Run!" over and over, and eventually he, along with a crowd of rapidly panicking fans, began to flee away from the mansion.

He didn't know how far away they got before a flying figure appeared over the mass of people. It was a blond, athletic woman wearing loose and elegant summer clothes, holding a little girl in one hand and a few shopping bags in the other.

"What are you doing?" Eighteen asked in a slightly accusing tone, ignoring the surprised gasps and stares of the people below. "What were those explosions just now?"

"Buu don't know, Buu scared!" said the frightened Buu, still in Satan's body.

"Buu? What are you saying?" Eighteen didn't have too much time to consider Satan's confusing answer, because the pink form of Majin Buu appeared above the crowd, looking down at them.

Buu pointed up at the monster who stole his body. "This not Buu! This bad man!"

"Haha!" Ginyu couldn't help but laugh at the pathetic earthlings. After blowing up half the mansion with a lazy energy blast and setting fire to the rest of the compound, he began searching for new targets. The body thief immediately noticed a big, screaming herd of people running away from his location, and set out after them. Now how should he destroy them? One by one or all at once? The second was more satisfying but would be over very quickly, while in the first option the screams could last for hours. He didn't have much time, though, so he decided on a moderately large area attack, enough to turn everyone in the crowd to ash.

"Die like the vermin you are!" Ginyu extended an arm and fired a deadly blast down towards the ground. Eighteen, shaken by the unfamiliar words coming from the normally jolly Buu, had only an instant to make a difficult choice. Stay, or run.

She dropped her shopping bags, held Marron tight against her body, extended her free arm towards Buu and fired a massive blast of her own.

The two attacks collided and detonated in midair, resulting in a massive explosion. The shock wave cracked windows for miles around, pushing people off their feet and causing a thick cloud of dust and smoke to cover almost half of Satan City.

Majin Buu started laughing through the smoke, but it was a strange, malevolent sound, one Eighteen never heard before. With an invisible burst of force the smoke and dust were blown away, revealing Majin Buu and the sky above. The nearby area now looked like an eye of a storm, surrounded by walls of dust. "What do we have here," Majin Buu laughed, "some of the earthlings aren't completely worthless!"

The demon launched a barrage of ki blasts around the crowd, forcing the panicking people to flee towards the center. The blasts were too small and too fast for Eighteen to stop, especially while holding her daughter. She knew she could escape, Marron's safety was more important than anything else, but could she really be safe with Majin Buu going rogue?

"Ah, there, all bunched together nicely," said Ginyu. "And now," he smiled, pointing a finger at the terrified people and gathering an evil-looking orb of red ki, "now you all die."

Eighteen shot another of her blasts into Majin Buu's attack, but the energy was absorbed, only causing the red ki orb to grow and making the demon laugh in glee. With a final shout, Majin Buu launched the attack downwards.

Several things happened at once.

Krillin and Tien flew in from the north, Tien in his training outfit and Eighteen's husband wearing his orange gi. The two fighters flew so fast time almost seemed to stop, so fast that even Eighteen could barely follow their movements. Their auras flaring and extending in strange ways, Krillin and Tien approached the red blast.

Alarmed, Eighteen expected the two to intercept it themselves, but they surprised her. The fighters flew around the plummeting red blast, performing a set of flowing, unfamiliar moves and using their auras to nudge it out of course, making it orbit their own bodies – first around Tien, then around Krillin, then back to Tien and back to Krillin - until the short warrior finally extended his right arm and launched the orb back towards Majin Buu.

The surprised Ginyu barely had time to shield himself from the blast before he was engulfed in a destructive inferno of raging ki, all of it his own! The two earthlings had turned his own attack against him!

"Eighteen, go," Krillin told his wife while still looking at Majin Buu, who was still recovering from the blast. "Keep Marron safe, we'll handle Buu. Vegeta and Goku should be here any second."

Eighteen nodded wordlessly and flew away, holding their daughter close.

"This not Buu, me Buu!" Buu cried from the ground, making Tien and Krillin look at him in confusion. "Me Buu! Bad man steal Buu's body!"

Krillin looked at the strangely-acting Satan, then up at Majin Buu, suddenly understanding. A quick telepathic probe later and his eyes opened wide. At the same time, Ginyu recovered from the earlier explosion and recognized the short, flying martial artist. "You!" both of them exclaimed simultaneously.

Ginyu immediately gathered another concentrated, deadly ki orb and launched it towards Krillin. Again, the two warriors reflected the orb together using their auras. This time Ginyu was prepared, easily dodging the attack. It flew out into space and detonated, appearing for a few moments like a second sun.

"Fools," Ginyu grimaced in frustration, "let's see how you deflect THIS!" The body thief powered up, preparing to launch another, deadlier attack. Krillin and Tien, however, did not wait to see his maneuver completed. Before Ginyu could launch whatever attack he was planning, the two warriors charged towards him and began attacking the demon with a flurry of kicks and punches. Unable to follow through with his planned blast, Ginyu roared in anger and started fighting back.

The three combatants flew above the city, their strikes and blocks causing powerful shock waves and constant thunder.

Despite their initial good showing, both Krillin and Tien knew they were in trouble. Ginyu kept powering up in rage, his strikes more and more difficult to avoid, while the body thief himself took no damage from hits that went past his defenses. Nothing Krillin and Tien did left any lasting damage, as Ginyu's pudgy, elastic body either absorbed attacks completely or healed rapidly afterwards.

Meanwhile, fighting at this level was draining both fighters rapidly. Their new style of fighting, developed during many intense training sessions over the last year, raised their effective power level to previously unimaginable heights — but it couldn't overcome their limited supply of ki.

Eventually one of Ginyu's kicks connected with Tien's shoulder painfully, sending another shock wave throughout the city. The three-eyed warrior plummeted down and crashed into a previously busy city street, now entirely abandoned. The force of the kick caused him to dig a wide trench into the asphalt before coming to a complete stop.

"Only you and me now," Ginyu looked at Krillin and grinned, "I wonder how long those fancy moves will keep you alive."

Krillin was breathing heavily, sweat flowing down his face. Before he could answer, another voice came from below them.

"Had your fun playing with the humans, Ginyu?" Vegeta was confidently standing there with arms crossed, in the middle of the empty street, and looked up at the body thief with a crooked smile.

"Vegeta!" Krillin shouted, relieved to see the saiyan prince. The bald warrior couldn't sense Vegeta at all, so his appearance came as a surprise. "Can you handle him? I need to go help Tien and the others!"

Vegeta nodded. "Go."

Krillin immediately flew down towards Tien and knelt to pick up the fallen warrior. "I don't think so", Ginyu said, aiming his head-tentacle at the two humans and firing a magical bolt.

A thrown sewer grate appeared in the bolt's path, thrown by Vegeta so rapidly that no one could see it. After it was struck by the bolt, the grate turned into a large piece of chocolate and fell down with a dull sound. Krillin finished picking Tien up and flew away, leaving Vegeta and Ginyu alone in the deserted city block.

"What? What just happened?" Ginyu asked angrily.

"Nothing," Vegeta smiled, "you're just too slow."

Ginyu continued hovering above Vegeta, saying nothing. The saiyan could feel his opponent's ki rise, however, and prepared himself for the inevitable attack.

The body thief suddenly pointed his head tentacle at the saiyan prince and fired a transformation bolt from above. Vegeta quickly hovered backwards, but Ginyu anticipated his movement, charged down with a sudden burst of speed and aimed a mountain-shattering punch to the side of Vegeta's head. The saiyan barely blocked the strike by raising his right arm to protect his head, then unleashed a powerful kiai shout that pushed Ginyu away. Tho two opponents faced each other again, this time hovering just above street level.

With a roar, Ginyu charged again, drawing more power from his unnatural body until his whole form was engulfed in a fierce lightning aura. To Ginyu, Vegeta's movements seemed slow, sluggish.

As the two combatants engaged in furious hand-to-hand combat, Ginyu's strikes bypassed the saiyan's blocks more often than not, powerful hits battering Vegeta and causing the street itself to crumble from the shocks. As a crater was forming under the two fighting enemies, Vegeta began to stumble and bleed, until Ginyu managed to hit him with a mighty punch to the stomach.

Vegeta's face twisted in pain as he was flung into the sky through several buildings, leaving trails of dust and cement behind and coming to rest hundreds of feet in the air.

Laughing arrogantly, Ginyu launched a barrage of energy blasts at his stunned, hovering opponent. The swarm of energy orbs hit the saiyan with a terrific explosion, causing yet another shockwave to reverberate through Satan City and clearing the air of dust and debris. Vegeta fell down and hit the ground painfully, lying on top of a ruined building wall.

Ginyu approached the fallen prince from above, taking a moment to appreciate his victory. Then Vegeta opened his eyes and began laughing, there was a flash of light, and Ginyu felt half his body evaporate. Panicking, Ginyu realized the Saiyan was toying with him. One moment he was prone and unconscious, the next he was standing up and laughing, one arm aimed at the body thief with the palm open. He had launched an energy attack so quickly that Ginyu couldn't even follow it with his senses. By the time he realized what happened, Vegeta's attack was a vanishing point of light high up in the sky.

After putting the unconscious Tien down in a secluded place outside the city, Krillin flew back to the scene of the fight. He had sensed another spectator viewing the fight from hiding, and flew towards the presence. It was Satan – Buu in Satan's body, hiding behind a scrapped, ruined city bus. The two looked at each other and continued to watch the battle in silence, with Krillin growing more and more agitated. What was Vegeta thinking? Why was he letting Ginyu continue this fight?

As the half-destroyed Ginyu hovered in shock, Krillin started to rise up into the air, intending to vaporize Ginyu himself if Vegeta wasn't going to do anything. Vegeta's mental voice came to his mind, though, cold and angry. " _Stay out of this, don't you dare interfere_."

 _Gah, no point in arguing with him when he's like this_ , Krillin thought in frustration. He kept on watching in silence, prepared to act if Ginyu showed any sign of attacking the planet itself, a final act of defiance. _Did he learn nothing from what happened with Cell? With Freeza?  
_

Ginyu was running out of options. He had moments left to live before the overpowered saiyan decided to stop whatever game he was playing and destroy him once and for all. However, old instincts were awakening within Ginyu's new body. When badly hurt, this body had a final attack that was almost a physical need at this point. Ginyu didn't want to leave this body and switch it for Vegeta's. Instead, he decided to let the new body's instincts guide his actions, and add Vegeta's unimaginable might to his own.

The body thief sank to the ground, weak and defeated. "What's this, Ginyu?" Vegeta asked, wiping away some of the blood from his face, "tired of playing? You're already done?"

The prince began flying towards Ginyu, touching down right next to where the grotesquely warped and half-disintegrated warrior rested. Vegeta raised his left arm, palm open, and pointed it at the fallen body thief. "Look at you, Ginyu, how pathetic you are. Destroying you is almost a waste of my time at this point."

A fierce energy attack appeared in Vegeta's open palm, slowly building up in power. "Almost," the saiyan warrior said with an evil grin.

It was then that Ginyu struck, while Vegeta was occupied with humiliating him. The horrified Krillin could only watch as tiny pink blobs jumped at Vegeta from the surrounding area, enveloping him in a rubbery curtain. It was over in an instant, Vegeta was completely covered by Ginyu's attack and slowly dragged forward to to be absorbed.

The despairing Krillin rose into the air and began flinging energy blasts at Ginyu as hard as he could, hoping to destroy the demon before the absorption was complete.

A series of titanic explosions leveled the surrounding area, but it was too late. Krillin could feel Ginyu's energy surging, and the rejuvenated body thief rose up into the air, laughing arrogantly as he emerged from the blasts.

"Ah, that's better," The smiling Ginyu turned to look at Krillin. "Patience, please, I'll be killing you in a moment. Let me just finish absorbing Vege…"

His arrogant expression faded. Something was wrong. He couldn't move. He couldn't talk. Slowly, so very slowly, a terrible pain began to fill him from inside, an ache that soon spread into every part of his being, turning more and more intense with every passing moment.

 _What is going on?_ Krillin watched as Ginyu looked up into the sky and began to scream in pain, the inhuman sound carrying on for miles and causing clouds in the surrounding sky to evaporate. The body thief hovered there in Buu's body while veins of blue light appeared under his skin, growing brighter and wider, until his entire body was imbued with blue radiance.

Suddenly the scream stopped, replaced by a roaring conflagration of blue flame and a hiss of burning material. It was painfully bright, and Krillin had to look away or risk getting blinded. After a few moments the brightness subsided and roar of the flames became the familiar sound of an active aura.

When Krillin looked at the place where Ginyu had been, he saw only a dim figure surrounded by a vibrant aura of blue energy. The figure was much smaller than the massive body of Majin Buu. He couldn't feel any ki, and all traces of Ginyu were gone.

"V… Vegeta?" Krilling asked hesitantly. Was this a new transformation? The flaming blue aura was so intense that Krillin could barely make out the outline of the person inside.

"Yes," came the muted reply. Slowly extinguishing his aura, the battered form of Vegeta appeared. The saiyan was back in his base state, looking a little tired and covered in bruises.

As Buu in Satan's body came out from hiding and stared at the hovering prince, Krillin asked "What happened to Buu… I mean, Ginyu… well, you know. And how did you even manage to do that?"

After overpowering Topo at the tournament of power, Vegeta was reasonably sure he had transcended whatever magic Buu used to absorb others. It was much closer than anticipated, though, and he was almost overwhelmed by the old sorceries. In the end, just like in the tournament, focusing on his family was what allowed him to survive. He wasn't going to admit any of this to Krillin, however.

Vegeta gave the short warrior a smug look. "That can wait for later."

Without saying another word, the saiyan prince flew up into the sky and hovered at the highest reaches of Earth's atmosphere. There, with less distractions, it was easier to follow the auras of Gohan, Beerus, Whis — and now Kakarot, too.

Down below in Satan City, Krillin sighed as he watched Vegeta fade away into the distance. "Trying to get something out of him is like squeezing water out of stone," he said to himself. The shocked Buu in Satan's body stood there and whimpered. "Don't worry, buddy," Krillin told Buu, "let's get you to Dende and decide what to do next."

 _Capsule Corp, a few minutes earlier_

Goku appeared outside the Capsule Corp headquarters just as Vegeta was preparing to leave for Satan city. The two hovered in midair above the rounded dome of Bulma and Vegeta's home, looking at each other.

"Beerus just attacked Gohan," Goku said in a serious tone. They both knew this meeting was one of their "who gets to fight" arguments, so no need to waste time on greetings and explanations if the two of them had the same thoughts.

"Yes, and Majin Buu decided to go on a rampage," Vegeta added. "Two of us, two fights."

"I have to help Gohan," Goku said, his quick breathing betraying his anxiety.

Vegeta sighed. He wanted to fight Beerus too, of course, but if his own son or daughter were involved… "Go already, I'll take care of things here."

Goku nodded, visibly relieved. "Thanks, Vegeta, I know you really want this fight. I'll make it up to your later." The saiyan from Earth vanished immediately afterwards, leaving Vegeta alone.

 _That's right, you owe me one, Kakarot,_ Vegeta thought as he approached Satan City. _Did you recover your precious ultra instinct, or not? I'm sure you have, and once you reveal it you won't be able to hide that fact any longer. Your ultra instinct against my perfected god form, until I finally defeat you at your strongest!_


	26. To Destroy a God

_Doomed planet_

Shards of stone exploded as Gohan flew towards Beerus, his fist connecting with the feline god's face. A massive shock wave caused the entire surrounding area to crumble, and the force of the strike launched Beerus backwards.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gohan said, trying to keep his anger in check, "but if you continue attacking I will defend myself." The god's powerful attack earlier almost caught Gohan by surprise, but he managed to block it in time and avoid any real damage.

"Defend yourself?" Beerus sneered. The god of destruction raised a hand to his face, feeling the slight bruise that appeared there after Gohan's strike. With blinding speed he leaped towards his mortal opponent, engaging the half-saiyan in furious hand to hand combat. Beerus appeared to have the edge in speed and power, forcing Gohan to fight defensively.

"Better tell me now," the angry god told Gohan while attacking again and again with fists, kicks and knee strikes, "before I pulverize you completely. How did you know?!"

Gohan was focusing on avoiding Beerus' attacks, and answered slowly between blocks and dodges. "Know what? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Suddenly Beerus extended himself too much with a heavy fist, allowing Gohan to duck under his arm, grab the god and throw Beerus over his head and down towards the ground. The god of destruction hit the gravelly, broken surface with a mighty thunder, forming a large crater in the barren, rocky land and ending up embedded in its center. Gohan found himself hovering, alone, a few dozen feet above the prone form of Beerus and the new crater floor.

Beerus stood up and stared at his opponent angrily. "I can't destroy any more gods! You knew it, so you caused new guardians to appear on every planet in the galaxy. Now I can't destroy any of them!" Beerus propped himself up and shook away the dust covering his body with a small telekinetic burst. "Don't pretend you didn't know it, boy."

Flying in place above the god of destruction, Gohan processed this new information as quickly as possible. Beerus couldn't destroy any more gods for some reason. That included guardians. And now that all the planets in the galaxy had guardians, Beerus couldn't destroy any of them because the guardians would also be destroyed. With his anger rising once again, Gohan remembered that Beerus wanted nothing more than to destroy planets full of people. He craved it.

"It's true, Gohan," Whis said helpfully. "Lord Beerus has destroyed too many gods and souls already, his standing with the grand priest is very low. Any more offenses and he will be punished."

"Thank you, Whis," Beerus growled in annoyance at the talkative angel, "now don't let anyone interfere." He extended his arm towards Gohan, gathered a gigantic orb of flaming, angry energy and shot it towards his half-saiyan opponent. Gohan dodged the massive blast, only to find Beerus had used it as a diversion. While Gohan was dodging, Beerus flew behind him and grabbed Gohan in a painful head lock. Gohan could do nothing but hold on to Beerus' arm and pull as hard as he could in an attempt to free himself, while both god and mortal spun around in midair.

As the flaming energy orb exploded further out in space, the struggling Gohan and Beerus cast dark red shadows on the broken surface. The god had the advantage now, slowly suffocating Gohan. "This is only the beginning, boy," Beerus whispered into Gohan's ear while choking him mercilessly. "If you don't tell me how you know, I will go to Earth and I'll find your precious wife and daughter. They'll pay the price for your silence, brat."

Gohan struggled harder, his white aura flaring around him. The titanic struggle and Gohan's strengthening aura caused mighty winds to blow all around the doomed world, but Beerus was unimpressed. "You think I won't do it? Because Bulma likes to pretend I'm your friend? Do you think I won't incinerate your wife where she stands and burn little Pan to ash?" Beerus sneered with malice. "You all seem to forget, I'm not your friend. You're all worthless insects to me. I will crush you all, beginning with your family, unless you tell me how you know, RIGHT NOW!"

With a flash of brilliant light, Gohan's aura flared to its full extent. In one moment of rage, Gohan's strength was enough to break out of Beerus' head lock. "Enough!" Gohan shouted in anger, spinning around as he freed himself and aiming a deadly kick at the god of destruction's neck. Beerus barely managed to block the kick with his left arm, but the force of Gohan's strike knocked him away a considerable distance, causing another shock wave to spread all across the tiny world.

While the feline god was flung away, Gohan concentrated on a deadly attack taught to him by his old mentor. Two fingers touching his forehead, he charged the attack almost instantly, focusing an unimaginable amount of ki.

"MAKANKOSAPPO!" Gohan roared, pointing towards Beerus. The spiraling beam that came forth was so powerful, so focused, that the local fabric of space-time itself screeched in protest, causing cracks of rainbow-colored light to spread around it. The cracks remained in the path of the beam even after the energy vanished, veins of frozen light hovering in space.

The god barely had time to shield himself when the beam struck, an attack violent enough to force even Beerus to take it seriously. A bright, hellishly hot explosion bloomed around Beerus as he resisted the spiraling ki beam, two arms crossed in front of his face. Gohan could sense his enemy's ki waver.

"Oh, my," Whis sighed while the explosion died down, concentrating on the damage done to the universe and repairing it with a quick wave of his staff. The rainbow cracks vanished.

Blood, blood and pain. Rare sensations for Beerus, leaving the god confused for a moment. After the exploding ki vanished, Beerus was left hovering in the air, a nasty, piercing wound open and bleeding on his forearm.

"You think you can threaten my family?" Gohan shouted angrily and charged, not giving his opponent time to focus. "You won't hurt anyone ever again, Beerus!" The half-saiyan hit Beerus with an incredibly powerful kick to the ribs, flinging him further away. Unrelenting, Gohan flew behind his opponent, brought his hands together above his head and smashed them down painfully on Beerus' back. The god was flung down towards the ground, but managed to stop himself in midair. Crimson energies flickered across Gohan's aura as the half-saiyan's rage intensified, but Gohan forced himself to focus his anger. His savage attack on Freeza still disturbed him, and he didn't want to lose control like that ever again.

"Fool, you actually think you can win this fight?" Beerus looked up at Gohan and sneered in contempt, despite holding his arm awkwardly, obviously feeling the pain of his wound.

Beerus launched himself head first at Gohan, hands held tight against his sides, intending to ram the half-saiyan and break Gohan's body to pieces. Gohan, however, was faster. As the god approached, Gohan dodged sideways and aimed a powerful upward kick, focusing his ki into the movement and connecting with the god's midsection as Beerus flew by.

The thunderous shock wave from the impact caused powerful hurricane winds to spread out, disintegrating towering cliffs for hundreds of miles around them, causing the cliffs to collapse into mounds of rubble.

Beerus was flung up, spinning and out of control, and Gohan fired a barrage of energy blasts at him. Even in this state, wounded, weakened and not in full control of his trajectory, Beerus managed to dodge or deflect most of the attacks. A few, however, connected with painful explosions and damaged him even further. Eventually Beerus stopped his uncontrolled flight, righted himself and once again sneered at Gohan.

"Is that all you got?" Beerus said with a confident half-smile despite his bruised midsection and bleeding arm, "You think you're strong enough to defeat me, boy?"

"Don't you get it, Beerus?" Gohan shouted angrily, "I don't care about defeating you or winning this fight." The half-saiyan's aura became even more intense, responding to his rising anger. "I'm here to stop you from murdering any more people!"

His hands reaching out, Gohan launched another barrage of energy blasts at Beerus, this time missing him by a wide margin.

"Stop me!? You?! Ha! Looks like you're tired already!" The feline god laughed through his pain, then hesitated. Looking around in sudden alarm, he realized all of Gohan's energy blasts, the same ones that missed, were still hovering around in the air under the control of their creator. Beerus was surrounded. In his stunned state he simply failed to notice them.

"Yes, ME!" Gohan roared, his aura flaring even further. The half-saiyan brought his arms together, muscles bulging with effort, the simple movement apparently much more strenuous than normal. In an instant, all the hovering spheres of ki converged on Beerus, spiraling around him and finally closing in with an overpowering explosion.

Beerus flew at Gohan through the expanding flames, his body leaving behind a trail of sparks and smoke. The god snarled in anger as he came close and launched a heavy fist aimed at Gohan's head.

The half-saiyan dodged under Beerus' extended arm and the two continued fighting at incredible speed. Beerus' wounds barely seemed to affect his speed and strength, Gohan realized. Beerus was hiding reserves of untapped power, this fight wasn't going to be easy.

"Why," Gohan asked in frustration as he dodged, blocked and retaliated with his own attacks, "why do all this? Why all the murder? is it because you enjoy it?! Are you just another overpowered lunatic like Freeza?"

"Is this another one of your tricks?" Beerus growled in anger as he fought, a purple aura beginning to develop around his body, "you know why, your actions against me prove it." Gohan narrowly avoided an ultra-fast side kick aimed at his knee, enraging Beerus even further.

The two fighters were now engulfed in their auras. Gohan's clear aura clashed with Beerus' purple flames, mirroring their physical confrontation in a fiery dance of energies.

Beerus suddenly kicked low, his foot connecting with Gohan's thigh. The painful leg attack caused a mighty thunder and sent waves of sickening pain throughout the half-saiyan's body. Almost losing his focus, Gohan barely managed to block another fist as Beerus came closer, then grabbed Beerus' leg when the feline god launched a relatively slow high kick aimed at Gohan's head. Perhaps he overestimated the effect of his earlier strike, thinking Gohan was more stunned than he really was.

Still holding his opponent's leg, Gohan somersaulted above the raging Beerus, spinning the god over his own body and launching him head first towards the ground. The already massive crater below them shattered when Beerus hit, growing even larger and deeper. A terrible crashing noise rumbled across the entire world, cracks in the ground spreading out in all directions.

"You know what," Gohan shouted from above, looking at the now prone form of Beerus, "I don't care anymore." The warrior from earth raised his arms, elbows bent and the back of his hands touching his forehead. "Take your secrets to grave, Beerus, you're not going to hurt anyone else!" Gohan shouted, gathering a massive amount of deadly ki in his hands. "MASENKO, HA!" aiming his hands at Beerus down below, Gohan unleashed a massive beam of blinding white energy.

The beam hit Beerus and time seemed to slow down. Space closed in on itself and distorted Beerus' image, making him appear much smaller, as if the god lay at the end of a deep tunnel. A moment later and the distortion ended, time resuming its flow and space blooming out in a cosmic explosion. Waves of furious energy expanded outward from the point of impact, reducing a sizable chunk of the planet into nothingness and sending mountain-sized rocks hurtling into space. Gohan swatted aside a few shards of rock that flew by, focusing his senses on Beerus. Was his attack enough?

No, there he was. Beerus hovered below, still prone relative to Gohan. No longer at the bottom of a large crater, now he was hovering at the center of a massive void in the planet, a monstrous, continent-sized fissure, looking like a large bite taken out of an apple. Electric discharges from clouds of dust and rubble filled the fissure with colossal lightning bolts, momentarily casting shadows across the feline god's form.

To his dismay, Gohan could sense Beerus' energy rising higher and higher, even as the god lay there, apparently stunned. An angry aura of deep purple flames surrounded Beerus, feeding on any lightning bolts that came too close and growing larger by the second.

He had to end this, now. Hovering far above the god of destruction, Gohan once again touched two extended fingers to his forehead, charging a deadly attack as fast as he could. Moments later he pointed his fingers, now laced with energy, and fired a spiraling beam down at his enemy.

Beerus opened his eyes almost lazily and deflected the beam into space with a swat of his hand. Now fully surrounded by a more furious aura than Gohan had ever seen, the prone Beerus rotated in midair and rose up, reaching Gohan's altitude and staring into Gohan's eyes in silence. Gohan could see that Beerus still suffered from his earlier wounds, and the god's entire body was now covered in bruises and burns. It was as if they didn't bother him at all.

"I admit, boy," Beerus began menacingly, his words almost drowned out by the flaming sounds of his own aura, "I didn't expect this to be this much a challenge." He crossed his arms and continued, "I haven't been hurt this way in… millions of years."

Gohan hovered there in silence, observing Beerus. The god's energy was constantly rising, his power unimaginable. Somehow he had access to a huge energy reserve that was totally hidden, available to be tapped at will.

"Did you really think you could overpower me since you managed to destroy Freeza?" Beerus smiled mockingly and tilted his head, "I was born eighty million years ago, you naive fool. I've seen hundreds of generations of gods grow old and die. I've seen your ancestors when they were still tiny apes, perching on trees and howling at the moon. You and your pathetic band of warriors are nothing to me. You'll always be nothing, no matter how strong you get."

Beerus' smile expanded into a full, sadistic grin. "I planned on simply torturing your family, you know, but I see now it wouldn't be enough." Beerus raised his left arm, palm open, and gathered a massive orb of fiery ki. "Oh no, an opponent like you deserves something special."


End file.
